Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Vii.--how Two Friends Fell Out: the Spider and the Grasshopper., sentence 73
Ewa Abagi then sent word back to the chief that she could not marry him just then as she was expecting to bear a son, but that, some time after the child was born, she would go up the river to Insofan and marry him as she had heard that he was rich and was a good man.
Who acts: Ewa, chief · What happens: send back, not marry, expect, bear, go up, marry · To what, where: word, chief, son, that, river, Insofan · 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 (Ewa, 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 | Ewa | Ewa | PROPN | Number=Sing | 4 sent | nsubj |
| 2 | Abagi | Abagi | PROPN | Number=Sing | 1 Ewa | flat |
| 3 | then | then | ADV | PronType=Dem | 4 sent | advmod |
| 4 | sent | send | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 5 | word | word | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 sent | obj |
| 6 | back | back | ADV | _ | 4 sent | advmod |
| 7 | to | to | ADP | _ | 9 chief | case |
| 8 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 9 chief | det |
| 9 | chief | chief | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 sent | obl |
| 10 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 14 marry | mark |
| 11 | she | she | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 14 marry | nsubj |
| 12 | could | could | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 14 marry | aux |
| 13 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 14 marry | advmod |
| 14 | marry | marry | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 4 sent | advcl |
| 15 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 14 marry | obj |
| 16 | just | just | ADV | _ | 17 then | advmod |
| 17 | then | then | ADV | PronType=Dem | 14 marry | advmod |
| 18 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 21 expecting | mark |
| 19 | she | she | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 21 expecting | nsubj |
| 20 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 21 expecting | aux |
| 21 | expecting | expect | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 17 then | advcl |
| 22 | to | to | PART | _ | 23 bear | mark |
| 23 | bear | bear | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 21 expecting | xcomp |
| 24 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 25 son | det |
| 25 | son | son | NOUN | Number=Sing | 23 bear | obj |
| 26 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 36 born | punct |
| 27 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 36 born | cc |
| 28 | that | that | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 36 born | nsubj:pass |
| 29 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 36 born | punct |
| 30 | some | some | DET | PronType=Ind | 31 time | det |
| 31 | time | time | NOUN | Number=Sing | 36 born | nsubj:pass |
| 32 | after | after | ADP | _ | 34 child | case |
| 33 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 34 child | det |
| 34 | child | child | NOUN | Number=Sing | 31 time | nmod |
| 35 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 36 born | aux:pass |
| 36 | born | bear | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 4 sent | parataxis |
| 37 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 40 go | punct |
| 38 | she | she | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 40 go | nsubj |
| 39 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 40 go | aux |
| 40 | go | go | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 36 born | conj |
| 41 | up | up | ADP | _ | 40 go | compound:prt |
| 42 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 43 river | det |
| 43 | river | river | NOUN | Number=Sing | 40 go | obj |
| 44 | to | to | ADP | _ | 45 Insofan | case |
| 45 | Insofan | Insofan | PROPN | Number=Sing | 40 go | obl |
| 46 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 47 marry | cc |
| 47 | marry | marry | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 40 go | conj |
| 48 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 47 marry | obj |
| 49 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 52 heard | mark |
| 50 | she | she | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 52 heard | nsubj |
| 51 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 52 heard | aux |
| 52 | heard | hear | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 47 marry | advcl |
| 53 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 56 rich | mark |
| 54 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 56 rich | nsubj |
| 55 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 56 rich | cop |
| 56 | rich | rich | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 52 heard | ccomp |
| 57 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 61 man | cc |
| 58 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 61 man | cop |
| 59 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 61 man | det |
| 60 | good | good | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 61 man | amod |
| 61 | man | man | NOUN | Number=Sing | 52 heard | conj |
| 62 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 4 sent | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | send back | past | Ewa | word | the chief | then | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent word=Theme to chief=Destination | ||
| 2 | not marry | could | EWA | chief | then | vn amalgamate-22.2-3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Patient | |||
| 3 | expect | past · progressive | EWA | vn wish-62 «NP V for NP S_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme | |||||
| 4 | bear not said to happen | to-infinitive | EWA not said here | a son | vn birth-28.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent son=Patient | ||||
| 5 | bear | past · passive | that | vn birth-28.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient | |||||
| 6 | go up | would | EWA | the river | Insofan | vn calibratable_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.patient V NP.extent PP.source PP.goal»: agent=Patient river=Extent to insofan=Result | |||
| 7 | marry | infinitive | EWA not said here | chief | vn amalgamate-22.2-3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Patient | ||||
| 8 | hear | past · perfect | EWA | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V PP.stimulus»: agent=Experiencer | |||||
| 9 | is | past | chief | rich property | tree rules | ||||
| 10 | is a | past | EWA not said here | a good man | tree rules |
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/pg70959/6/73/