Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, E. Dayrell., sentence 50
After a few months had elapsed, the hawk said to himself: “The time has now come for me to take my revenge upon the people for taking my boy Agbor from me.”
Who acts: hawk, my · What happens: elapse, say, come, take, revenge · To what, where: few months, HAWK, revenge, boy · 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 (hawk, my), 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 | After | after | SCONJ | _ | 6 elapsed | mark |
| 2 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 4 months | det |
| 3 | few | few | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 4 months | amod |
| 4 | months | month | NOUN | Number=Plur | 6 elapsed | nsubj:pass |
| 5 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 6 elapsed | aux |
| 6 | elapsed | elapse | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 10 said | advcl |
| 7 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 6 elapsed | punct |
| 8 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 9 hawk | det |
| 9 | hawk | hawk | NOUN | Number=Sing | 10 said | nsubj |
| 10 | said | say | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 11 | to | to | ADP | _ | 12 himself | case |
| 12 | himself | himself | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs Reflex=Yes | 10 said | obl |
| 13 | : | : | PUNCT | _ | 19 come | punct |
| 14 | “ | " | PUNCT | _ | 19 come | punct |
| 15 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 16 time | det |
| 16 | time | time | NOUN | Number=Sing | 19 come | obl:unmarked |
| 17 | has | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 19 come | aux |
| 18 | now | now | ADV | PronType=Dem | 19 come | advmod |
| 19 | come | come | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 10 said | conj |
| 20 | for | for | ADP | _ | 21 me | case |
| 21 | me | I | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 19 come | obl |
| 22 | to | to | PART | _ | 23 take | mark |
| 23 | take | take | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 19 come | advcl |
| 24 | my | my | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Sing Person=1 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 25 revenge | nmod:poss |
| 25 | revenge | revenge | NOUN | Number=Sing | 23 take | obj |
| 26 | upon | upon | ADP | _ | 28 people | case |
| 27 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 28 people | det |
| 28 | people | people | NOUN | Number=Plur | 23 take | obl |
| 29 | for | for | SCONJ | _ | 30 taking | mark |
| 30 | taking | take | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 23 take | advcl |
| 31 | my | my | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Sing Person=1 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 32 boy | nmod:poss |
| 32 | boy | boy | NOUN | Number=Sing | 30 taking | obj |
| 33 | Agbor | Agbor | PROPN | Number=Sing | 32 boy | appos |
| 34 | from | from | ADP | _ | 35 me | case |
| 35 | me | I | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 30 taking | obl |
| 36 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 10 said | punct |
| 37 | ” | " | PUNCT | _ | 10 said | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | elapse | past · perfect · passive | a few months | tree rules | |||||
| 2 | say speech: assert | past | the hawk | HAWK | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to himself=Recipient | ||||
| 3 | come in a quote | present · perfect | the hawk not said here | now; time | for the hawk = hawk | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||
| 4 | take in a quote | to-infinitive | the hawk not said here | my revenge | upon the people | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent revenge=Theme | |||
| 5 | take in a quote | gerund | the hawk not said here | my boy | from the hawk = hawk | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP PP.initial_location»: agent=Agent boy=Theme from i=Initial_Location | |||
| 6 | revenge in a quote | my | nom revenge «act transitive»: poss=agent |
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/pg70959/3/50/