Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Iv.--how Elili of Inkum Died, and Was Brought Back to Life Again., sentence 76
Akoba, who was a witch, then started to cut down the tree in which her husband had taken refuge.
Who acts: Akoba · What happens: be, start, cut down, take · To what, where: witch, tree, husband
This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Iv.--how Elili of Inkum Died, and Was Brought Back to Life Again.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Akoba), 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 | Akoba | Akoba | PROPN | Number=Sing | 9 started | nsubj |
| 2 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 6 witch | punct |
| 3 | who | who | PRON | PronType=Rel | 6 witch | nsubj |
| 4 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 6 witch | cop |
| 5 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 6 witch | det |
| 6 | witch | witch | NOUN | Number=Sing | 1 Akoba | appos |
| 7 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 1 Akoba | punct |
| 8 | then | then | ADV | PronType=Dem | 9 started | advmod |
| 9 | started | start | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 10 | to | to | PART | _ | 11 cut | mark |
| 11 | cut | cut | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 9 started | xcomp |
| 12 | down | down | ADP | _ | 11 cut | compound:prt |
| 13 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 14 tree | det |
| 14 | tree | tree | NOUN | Number=Sing | 11 cut | obj |
| 15 | in | in | ADP | _ | 16 which | case |
| 16 | which | which | PRON | PronType=Rel | 20 taken | obl |
| 17 | her | her | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 18 husband | nmod:poss |
| 18 | husband | husband | NOUN | Number=Sing | 20 taken | nsubj:pass |
| 19 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 20 taken | aux |
| 20 | taken | take | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 14 tree | acl:relcl |
| 21 | refuge | refuge | NOUN | Number=Sing | 20 taken | obj |
| 22 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 9 started | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is a | past | Akoba | a witch | tree rules | ||||
| 2 | start | past | Akoba | then | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality | ||||
| 3 | cut down | to-infinitive | Akoba not said here | the tree | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset tree=Product | ||||
| 4 | take | past · perfect · passive | Akoba's husband | the tree | refuge obj | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP ADVP»: subject=Theme refuge=Destination |
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/pg70959/5/76/