Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Iv.--how Elili of Inkum Died, and Was Brought Back to Life Again., sentence 87
Then Achor said to the dogs: “If you can carry bundles for your master, you can carry my firewood.
Who acts: Achor, dogs · What happens: say, carry · To what, where: dogs, bundles, firewood · Speech: someone speaks here
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 (Achor, dogs), 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 | Then | then | ADV | PronType=Dem | 3 said | advmod |
| 2 | Achor | Achor | PROPN | Number=Sing | 3 said | nsubj |
| 3 | said | say | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 4 | to | to | ADP | _ | 6 dogs | case |
| 5 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 6 dogs | det |
| 6 | dogs | dog | NOUN | Number=Plur | 3 said | obl |
| 7 | : | : | PUNCT | _ | 12 carry | punct |
| 8 | “ | " | PUNCT | _ | 12 carry | punct |
| 9 | If | if | SCONJ | _ | 12 carry | mark |
| 10 | you | you | PRON | Case=Nom Person=2 PronType=Prs | 12 carry | nsubj |
| 11 | can | can | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 12 carry | aux |
| 12 | carry | carry | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 3 said | ccomp |
| 13 | bundles | bundle | NOUN | Number=Plur | 12 carry | obj |
| 14 | for | for | ADP | _ | 16 master | case |
| 15 | your | your | PRON | Case=Gen Person=2 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 16 master | nmod:poss |
| 16 | master | master | NOUN | Number=Sing | 12 carry | obl |
| 17 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 20 carry | punct |
| 18 | you | you | PRON | Case=Nom Person=2 PronType=Prs | 20 carry | nsubj |
| 19 | can | can | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 20 carry | aux |
| 20 | carry | carry | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 12 carry | conj |
| 21 | my | my | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Sing Person=1 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 22 firewood | nmod:poss |
| 22 | firewood | firewood | NOUN | Number=Sing | 20 carry | obj |
| 23 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 3 said | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | say speech: assert | past | Achor | the dogs | then | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to dog=Recipient clause=Topic | |||
| 2 | carry a condition, not said to happen, in a quote | can | the dogs = dog | bundles | for your master | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bundle=Theme | |||
| 3 | carry in a quote | can | the dogs = dog | my firewood | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent firewood=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/pg70959/5/87/