Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Iv.--how Elili of Inkum Died, and Was Brought Back to Life Again., sentence 95
The reason the dogs will not obey now is because they say that the chief broke their dog law when he told his wife what they did for him.
Who acts: dogs, reason, chief · What happens: not obey, be, break, tell, do · To what, where: reason, dog law, wife · 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 (dogs, reason, chief), 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 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 2 reason | det |
| 2 | reason | reason | NOUN | Number=Sing | 12 say | nsubj:outer |
| 3 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 4 dogs | det |
| 4 | dogs | dog | NOUN | Number=Plur | 7 obey | nsubj |
| 5 | will | will | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 7 obey | aux |
| 6 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 7 obey | advmod |
| 7 | obey | obey | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 2 reason | acl:relcl |
| 8 | now | now | ADV | PronType=Dem | 7 obey | advmod |
| 9 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 12 say | cop |
| 10 | because | because | SCONJ | _ | 12 say | mark |
| 11 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 12 say | nsubj |
| 12 | say | say | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 13 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 16 broke | mark |
| 14 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 15 chief | det |
| 15 | chief | chief | NOUN | Number=Sing | 16 broke | nsubj |
| 16 | broke | break | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 12 say | ccomp |
| 17 | their | their | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 19 law | nmod:poss |
| 18 | dog | dog | NOUN | Number=Sing | 19 law | compound |
| 19 | law | law | NOUN | Number=Sing | 16 broke | obj |
| 20 | when | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 22 told | advmod |
| 21 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 22 told | nsubj |
| 22 | told | tell | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 16 broke | advcl |
| 23 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 24 wife | nmod:poss |
| 24 | wife | wife | NOUN | Number=Sing | 22 told | iobj |
| 25 | what | what | PRON | PronType=Int | 27 did | obj |
| 26 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 27 did | nsubj |
| 27 | did | do | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 22 told | ccomp |
| 28 | for | for | ADP | _ | 29 him | case |
| 29 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 27 did | obl |
| 30 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 12 say | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | not obey | future | the dogs | the reason not said here | now | vn abide_by-93.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reason=Theme | |||
| 2 | be speech: assert | present | the reason | DOGS = dog nsubj; say property | tree rules | ||||
| 3 | break | past | the chief | DOGS's dog law | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer law=Patient | ||||
| 4 | tell speech: assert | past | Chief | Chief's wife | vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP what S»: agent=Agent wife=Recipient clause=Topic | ||||
| 5 | do | past | DOGS = dog | for Chief; what obj | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Eventuality |
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/pg70959/5/95/