Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, E. Dayrell., sentence 44
When the people heard, this, they said to the hawk: “If you will let Awu have her son back we will give you a slave in his place,” but the hawk refused this offer indignantly.
Who acts: people, hawk, Awu, we · What happens: hear, say, let, have back, give, refuse · To what, where: this, hawk, son, slave, place, offer · Speech: someone speaks here
This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, E. Dayrell.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (people, hawk, Awu, we), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.
Mova's own parse. This tree may be wrong.
The tree
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | When | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 4 heard | advmod |
| 2 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 3 people | det |
| 3 | people | people | NOUN | Number=Plur | 4 heard | nsubj |
| 4 | heard | hear | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 9 said | advcl |
| 5 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 4 heard | punct |
| 6 | this | this | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 4 heard | obj |
| 7 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 4 heard | punct |
| 8 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 9 said | nsubj |
| 9 | said | say | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 10 | to | to | ADP | _ | 12 hawk | case |
| 11 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 12 hawk | det |
| 12 | hawk | hawk | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 said | obl |
| 13 | : | : | PUNCT | _ | 18 let | punct |
| 14 | “ | " | PUNCT | _ | 18 let | punct |
| 15 | If | if | SCONJ | _ | 18 let | mark |
| 16 | you | you | PRON | Case=Nom Person=2 PronType=Prs | 18 let | nsubj |
| 17 | will | will | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 18 let | aux |
| 18 | let | let | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 9 said | ccomp |
| 19 | Awu | Awu | PROPN | Number=Sing | 20 have | nsubj |
| 20 | have | have | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 18 let | xcomp |
| 21 | her | her | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 22 son | nmod:poss |
| 22 | son | son | NOUN | Number=Sing | 20 have | obj |
| 23 | back | back | ADV | _ | 20 have | advmod |
| 24 | we | we | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=1 PronType=Prs | 26 give | nsubj |
| 25 | will | will | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 26 give | aux |
| 26 | give | give | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 18 let | conj |
| 27 | you | you | PRON | Case=Acc Person=2 PronType=Prs | 26 give | iobj |
| 28 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 29 slave | det |
| 29 | slave | slave | NOUN | Number=Sing | 26 give | obj |
| 30 | in | in | ADP | _ | 32 place | case |
| 31 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 32 place | nmod:poss |
| 32 | place | place | NOUN | Number=Sing | 26 give | obl |
| 33 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 18 let | punct |
| 34 | ” | " | PUNCT | _ | 18 let | punct |
| 35 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 38 refused | cc |
| 36 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 37 hawk | det |
| 37 | hawk | hawk | NOUN | Number=Sing | 38 refused | nsubj |
| 38 | refused | refuse | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 9 said | conj |
| 39 | this | this | DET | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 40 offer | det |
| 40 | offer | offer | NOUN | Number=Sing | 38 refused | obj |
| 41 | indignantly | indignantly | ADV | _ | 38 refused | advmod |
| 42 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 9 said | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | hear | past | the people | this | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer this=Stimulus | ||||
| 2 | say speech: assert | past | people | the hawk | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to hawk=Recipient clause=Topic | ||||
| 3 | let a condition, not said to happen, in a quote | future | the hawk = hawk | tree rules | |||||
| 4 | have back in a quote | infinitive | Awu | Awu's son | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent son=Patient | ||||
| 5 | give in a quote | future | we | a slave | the hawk = hawk | boy's place | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent you=Recipient slave=Theme | ||
| 6 | refuse | past | the hawk | this offer | indignantly property | vn reject-77.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent offer=Theme |
One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.
Text: «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Project Gutenberg book 70959 (public domain in the USA). Tree: Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. Frames: Mova's frames reader (prag), the chapter read in order.
This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/3/44/