Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Ix.--the Story of the War Between Inkum and Enfitop., sentence 12
Chief Awum then told his young men to dig a very deep pit on one side of the rock next to its deepest side, and, when it was finished, he placed sharp stakes firmly in the ground with the points upwards.
Who acts: Chief · What happens: tell, dig, finish, place · To what, where: young men, deep pit, one side, rock, sharp stakes, ground · Speech: someone speaks here
This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Ix.--the Story of the War Between Inkum and Enfitop.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (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 | Chief | Chief | PROPN | Number=Sing | 4 told | nsubj |
| 2 | Awum | Awum | PROPN | Number=Sing | 1 Chief | flat |
| 3 | then | then | ADV | PronType=Dem | 4 told | advmod |
| 4 | told | tell | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 5 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 7 men | nmod:poss |
| 6 | young | young | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 7 men | amod |
| 7 | men | man | NOUN | Number=Plur | 4 told | obj |
| 8 | to | to | PART | _ | 9 dig | mark |
| 9 | dig | dig | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 4 told | xcomp |
| 10 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 13 pit | det |
| 11 | very | very | ADV | _ | 12 deep | advmod |
| 12 | deep | deep | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 13 pit | amod |
| 13 | pit | pit | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 dig | obj |
| 14 | on | on | ADP | _ | 16 side | case |
| 15 | one | one | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 16 side | nummod |
| 16 | side | side | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 dig | obl |
| 17 | of | of | ADP | _ | 19 rock | case |
| 18 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 19 rock | det |
| 19 | rock | rock | NOUN | Number=Sing | 16 side | nmod |
| 20 | next | next | ADV | _ | 24 side | advmod |
| 21 | to | to | ADP | _ | 24 side | case |
| 22 | its | its | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 24 side | nmod:poss |
| 23 | deepest | deep | ADJ | Degree=Sup | 24 side | amod |
| 24 | side | side | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 dig | obl |
| 25 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 31 finished | punct |
| 26 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 31 finished | cc |
| 27 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 31 finished | punct |
| 28 | when | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 31 finished | advmod |
| 29 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 31 finished | nsubj:pass |
| 30 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 31 finished | aux:pass |
| 31 | finished | finish | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 4 told | conj |
| 32 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 34 placed | punct |
| 33 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 34 placed | nsubj |
| 34 | placed | place | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 4 told | conj |
| 35 | sharp | sharp | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 36 stakes | amod |
| 36 | stakes | stake | NOUN | Number=Plur | 34 placed | obj |
| 37 | firmly | firmly | ADV | _ | 34 placed | advmod |
| 38 | in | in | ADP | _ | 40 ground | case |
| 39 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 40 ground | det |
| 40 | ground | ground | NOUN | Number=Sing | 34 placed | obl |
| 41 | with | with | ADP | _ | 43 points | case |
| 42 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 43 points | det |
| 43 | points | point | NOUN | Number=Plur | 34 placed | obl |
| 44 | upwards | upwards | ADV | _ | 34 placed | advmod |
| 45 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 4 told | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | tell speech: assert | past | Chief | Chief's young men | then | vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Agent man=Recipient clause=Topic | |||
| 2 | dig not said to happen | to-infinitive | Chief not said here | a deep pit | one side of the rock | to rock's deepest side | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent pit=Theme on side=Location | ||
| 3 | finish | past · passive | rock | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: subject=Eventuality | |||||
| 4 | place | past | Chief | sharp stakes | the ground | with the points; firmly, upwards property | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent stake=Theme in ground=Destination |
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/pg70959/7/12/