Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Vii.--how Two Friends Fell Out: the Spider and the Grasshopper., sentence 115
There is a firm belief amongst all the natives in the Ikom district that the slaves who are killed and buried with their master will meet him again in the Spirit Land, where the conditions of life will be the same as they were on earth.
Who acts: firm belief, slaves, conditions · What happens: be, kill, bury, meet, condition · To what, where: slaves, belief, Spirit Land, life
This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Vii.--how Two Friends Fell Out: the Spider and the Grasshopper.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (firm belief, slaves, conditions), 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 | There | there | PRON | PronType=Dem | 2 is | expl |
| 2 | is | be | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 3 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 5 belief | det |
| 4 | firm | firm | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 5 belief | amod |
| 5 | belief | belief | NOUN | Number=Sing | 2 is | nsubj |
| 6 | amongst | amongst | ADP | _ | 9 natives | case |
| 7 | all | all | DET | PronType=Tot | 9 natives | det:predet |
| 8 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 9 natives | det |
| 9 | natives | native | NOUN | Number=Plur | 5 belief | nmod |
| 10 | in | in | ADP | _ | 13 district | case |
| 11 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 13 district | det |
| 12 | Ikom | Ikom | PROPN | Number=Sing | 13 district | compound |
| 13 | district | district | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 natives | nmod |
| 14 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 26 meet | mark |
| 15 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 16 slaves | det |
| 16 | slaves | slave | NOUN | Number=Plur | 26 meet | nsubj |
| 17 | who | who | PRON | PronType=Rel | 19 killed | nsubj:pass |
| 18 | are | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 19 killed | aux:pass |
| 19 | killed | kill | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 16 slaves | acl:relcl |
| 20 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 21 buried | cc |
| 21 | buried | bury | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 19 killed | conj |
| 22 | with | with | ADP | _ | 24 master | case |
| 23 | their | their | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 24 master | nmod:poss |
| 24 | master | master | NOUN | Number=Sing | 21 buried | obl |
| 25 | will | will | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 26 meet | aux |
| 26 | meet | meet | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 13 district | acl |
| 27 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 26 meet | obj |
| 28 | again | again | ADV | _ | 26 meet | advmod |
| 29 | in | in | ADP | _ | 32 Land | case |
| 30 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 32 Land | det |
| 31 | Spirit | Spirit | PROPN | Number=Sing | 32 Land | compound |
| 32 | Land | Land | PROPN | Number=Sing | 26 meet | obl |
| 33 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 42 same | punct |
| 34 | where | where | ADV | PronType=Rel | 42 same | advmod |
| 35 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 36 conditions | det |
| 36 | conditions | condition | NOUN | Number=Plur | 42 same | nsubj |
| 37 | of | of | ADP | _ | 38 life | case |
| 38 | life | life | NOUN | Number=Sing | 36 conditions | nmod |
| 39 | will | will | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 42 same | aux |
| 40 | be | be | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 42 same | cop |
| 41 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 42 same | det |
| 42 | same | same | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 32 Land | parataxis |
| 43 | as | as | ADP | _ | 47 earth | case |
| 44 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 47 earth | nsubj |
| 45 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 47 earth | cop |
| 46 | on | on | ADP | _ | 47 earth | case |
| 47 | earth | earth | NOUN | Number=Sing | 42 same | obl |
| 48 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 2 is | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | be | present | a firm belief amongst all natives in the Ikom district | there | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 2 | kill | present · passive | the slaves | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme | |||||
| 3 | bury | participle | with slaves's master | vn put-9.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 4 | meet | future | the slaves | belief | the Spirit Land | again | vn meet-36.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Co-Agent | ||
| 5 | is | future | the conditions of life | same property | tree rules | ||||
| 6 | is | past | conditions = condition | as earth | tree rules | ||||
| 7 | condition | life | nom condition «state transitive»: of=patient |
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/pg70959/6/115/