Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Ii.--the Cunning Hare; Or, Why the Tortoise Has a Patched Shell., sentence 84
Inkang then told his wife to consult the ju-ju man, to see what should be done, in order that she might bear a son who would inherit his father’s property and look after his mother in her old age.
Who acts: Inkang, son · What happens: tell, consult, see, do, bear, inherit · To what, where: wife, ju man, order, son, property · Speech: someone speaks here
This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Ii.--the Cunning Hare; Or, Why the Tortoise Has a Patched Shell.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Inkang, son), 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 | Inkang | Inkang | PROPN | Number=Sing | 3 told | nsubj |
| 2 | then | then | ADV | PronType=Dem | 3 told | advmod |
| 3 | told | tell | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 4 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 5 wife | nmod:poss |
| 5 | wife | wife | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 told | iobj |
| 6 | to | to | PART | _ | 7 consult | mark |
| 7 | consult | consult | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 3 told | xcomp |
| 8 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 12 man | det |
| 9 | ju | ju | NOUN | Number=Sing | 11 ju | compound |
| 10 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 9 ju | punct |
| 11 | ju | ju | NOUN | Number=Sing | 12 man | compound |
| 12 | man | man | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 consult | obj |
| 13 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 15 see | punct |
| 14 | to | to | PART | _ | 15 see | mark |
| 15 | see | see | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 7 consult | conj |
| 16 | what | what | PRON | PronType=Int | 19 done | obj |
| 17 | should | should | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 19 done | aux |
| 18 | be | be | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 19 done | aux:pass |
| 19 | done | do | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 15 see | ccomp |
| 20 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 22 order | punct |
| 21 | in | in | ADP | _ | 22 order | case |
| 22 | order | order | NOUN | Number=Sing | 19 done | obl |
| 23 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 26 bear | mark |
| 24 | she | she | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 26 bear | nsubj |
| 25 | might | might | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 26 bear | aux |
| 26 | bear | bear | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 22 order | acl |
| 27 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 28 son | det |
| 28 | son | son | NOUN | Number=Sing | 26 bear | obj |
| 29 | who | who | PRON | PronType=Rel | 31 inherit | nsubj |
| 30 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 31 inherit | aux |
| 31 | inherit | inherit | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 28 son | acl:relcl |
| 32 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 33 father | nmod:poss |
| 33 | father | father | NOUN | Number=Sing | 35 property | nmod:poss |
| 34 | ’s | 's | PART | _ | 33 father | case |
| 35 | property | property | NOUN | Number=Sing | 31 inherit | obj |
| 36 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 37 look | cc |
| 37 | look | look | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 31 inherit | conj |
| 38 | after | after | ADP | _ | 40 mother | case |
| 39 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 40 mother | nmod:poss |
| 40 | mother | mother | NOUN | Number=Sing | 37 look | obl |
| 41 | in | in | ADP | _ | 44 age | case |
| 42 | her | her | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 44 age | nmod:poss |
| 43 | old | old | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 44 age | amod |
| 44 | age | age | NOUN | Number=Sing | 37 look | obl |
| 45 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 3 told | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | tell speech: assert | past | Inkang | husband's wife | then | vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Agent wife=Recipient clause=Topic | |||
| 2 | consult not said to happen | to-infinitive | Inkang not said here | the ju man | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent man=Theme | ||||
| 3 | see | to-infinitive | Inkang not said here | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V how S_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus | |||||
| 4 | do | should · passive | order | what obj | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: what=Eventuality | ||||
| 5 | bear | might | INKANG | a son | vn birth-28.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent son=Patient | ||||
| 6 | inherit | would | a son | husband's father's property | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent property=Theme | ||||
| 7 | look | infinitive | a son not said here | after husband's mother; in INKANG's old age | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent in age=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/pg70959/4/84/