Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Vii.--how Two Friends Fell Out: the Spider and the Grasshopper., sentence 117
They also believe that, when a chief arrives in the Spirit Land, accompanied by these slaves, carrying the gin cloth, rods, etc., which were placed in the grave, the people of the Spirit Land-will say, “This is a chief coming.
Who acts: slaves, chief, Spirit, This · What happens: believe, arrive, accompany, carry, place, say · To what, where: Spirit Land, gin cloth, rods, grave · Speech: someone speaks here
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 (slaves, chief, Spirit, This), 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 | They | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 3 believe | nsubj |
| 2 | also | also | ADV | _ | 3 believe | advmod |
| 3 | believe | believe | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 4 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 9 arrives | mark |
| 5 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 9 arrives | punct |
| 6 | when | when | SCONJ | _ | 9 arrives | mark |
| 7 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 8 chief | det |
| 8 | chief | chief | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 arrives | nsubj |
| 9 | arrives | arrive | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 3 believe | advcl |
| 10 | in | in | ADP | _ | 13 Land | case |
| 11 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 13 Land | det |
| 12 | Spirit | Spirit | PROPN | Number=Sing | 13 Land | compound |
| 13 | Land | Land | PROPN | Number=Sing | 9 arrives | obl |
| 14 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 15 accompanied | punct |
| 15 | accompanied | accompany | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 3 believe | parataxis |
| 16 | by | by | ADP | _ | 18 slaves | case |
| 17 | these | this | DET | Number=Plur PronType=Dem | 18 slaves | det |
| 18 | slaves | slave | NOUN | Number=Plur | 15 accompanied | obl |
| 19 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 20 carrying | punct |
| 20 | carrying | carry | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 15 accompanied | advcl |
| 21 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 23 cloth | det |
| 22 | gin | gin | NOUN | Number=Sing | 23 cloth | compound |
| 23 | cloth | cloth | NOUN | Number=Sing | 20 carrying | obj |
| 24 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 25 rods | punct |
| 25 | rods | rod | NOUN | Number=Plur | 3 believe | parataxis |
| 26 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 27 etc. | punct |
| 27 | etc. | etc. | NOUN | Abbr=Yes Number=Plur | 25 rods | conj |
| 28 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 31 placed | punct |
| 29 | which | which | PRON | PronType=Rel | 31 placed | nsubj:pass |
| 30 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 31 placed | aux:pass |
| 31 | placed | place | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 25 rods | acl |
| 32 | in | in | ADP | _ | 34 grave | case |
| 33 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 34 grave | det |
| 34 | grave | grave | NOUN | Number=Sing | 31 placed | obl |
| 35 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 37 people | punct |
| 36 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 37 people | det |
| 37 | people | people | NOUN | Number=Plur | 25 rods | conj |
| 38 | of | of | ADP | _ | 40 Spirit | case |
| 39 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 40 Spirit | det |
| 40 | Spirit | Spirit | PROPN | Number=Sing | 37 people | nmod |
| 41 | Land | Land | PROPN | Number=Sing | 40 Spirit | flat |
| 42 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 44 say | punct |
| 43 | will | will | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 44 say | aux |
| 44 | say | say | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 40 Spirit | acl:relcl |
| 45 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 50 chief | punct |
| 46 | “ | " | PUNCT | _ | 50 chief | punct |
| 47 | This | this | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 50 chief | nsubj |
| 48 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 50 chief | cop |
| 49 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 50 chief | det |
| 50 | chief | chief | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 44 say | ccomp |
| 51 | coming | come | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 50 chief | advcl |
| 52 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 3 believe | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | believe | present | slaves = slave | rods and etc. and the people of the Spirit parataxis | vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Experiencer | ||||
| 2 | arrive | present | a chief | the Spirit Land | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 3 | accompany | participle | by this slaves | vn accompany-51.7 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent by slave=Destination | |||||
| 4 | carry | gerund | the gin cloth | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent cloth=Theme | |||||
| 5 | place | past · passive | rods and etc. and the people of the Spirit | the grave | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme in grave=Destination | ||||
| 6 | say speech: assert | future | the Spirit not said here | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 7 | is in a quote | present | This | chief property | tree rules | ||||
| 8 | come in a quote | gerund | This not said here | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=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/pg70959/6/117/