Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Ix.--the Story of the War Between Inkum and Enfitop., sentence 125
They searched everywhere for Ogor, but could not find him, so at last Omegha thought of the porcupine, and made up her mind to ask his advice as to what had happened to Ogor, and what was the best thing to do to get him back again.
Who acts: women, Omegha · What happens: search, not find, think, make up, ask, happen · To what, where: Ogor, last Omegha, mind, advice, best thing · 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 (women, Omegha), 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 | 2 searched | nsubj |
| 2 | searched | search | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 3 | everywhere | everywhere | ADV | PronType=Tot | 2 searched | advmod |
| 4 | for | for | ADP | _ | 5 Ogor | case |
| 5 | Ogor | Ogor | PROPN | Number=Sing | 2 searched | obl |
| 6 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 10 find | punct |
| 7 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 10 find | cc |
| 8 | could | could | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 10 find | aux |
| 9 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 10 find | advmod |
| 10 | find | find | VERB | Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin | 2 searched | parataxis |
| 11 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 10 find | obj |
| 12 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 17 thought | punct |
| 13 | so | so | ADV | _ | 17 thought | advmod |
| 14 | at | at | ADP | _ | 16 Omegha | case |
| 15 | last | last | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 16 Omegha | amod |
| 16 | Omegha | Omegha | PROPN | Number=Sing | 17 thought | obl |
| 17 | thought | think | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 10 find | conj |
| 18 | of | of | ADP | _ | 20 porcupine | case |
| 19 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 20 porcupine | det |
| 20 | porcupine | porcupine | NOUN | Number=Sing | 17 thought | obl |
| 21 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 23 made | punct |
| 22 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 23 made | cc |
| 23 | made | make | VERB | Mood=Ind Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 2 searched | parataxis |
| 24 | up | up | ADP | _ | 23 made | compound:prt |
| 25 | her | her | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 26 mind | nmod:poss |
| 26 | mind | mind | NOUN | Number=Sing | 23 made | obj |
| 27 | to | to | PART | _ | 28 ask | mark |
| 28 | ask | ask | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 23 made | advcl |
| 29 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 30 advice | nmod:poss |
| 30 | advice | advice | NOUN | Number=Sing | 28 ask | obj |
| 31 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 35 happened | mark |
| 32 | to | to | ADP | _ | 31 as | fixed |
| 33 | what | what | PRON | PronType=Int | 35 happened | nsubj |
| 34 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 35 happened | aux |
| 35 | happened | happen | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 28 ask | ccomp |
| 36 | to | to | ADP | _ | 37 Ogor | case |
| 37 | Ogor | Ogor | PROPN | Number=Sing | 35 happened | obl |
| 38 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 44 thing | punct |
| 39 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 44 thing | cc |
| 40 | what | what | PRON | PronType=Int | 44 thing | nsubj |
| 41 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 44 thing | cop |
| 42 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 44 thing | det |
| 43 | best | good | ADJ | Degree=Sup | 44 thing | amod |
| 44 | thing | thing | NOUN | Number=Sing | 2 searched | parataxis |
| 45 | to | to | PART | _ | 46 do | mark |
| 46 | do | do | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 44 thing | acl |
| 47 | to | to | PART | _ | 48 get | mark |
| 48 | get | get | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 46 do | advcl |
| 49 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 48 get | obj |
| 50 | back | back | ADV | _ | 51 again | advmod |
| 51 | again | again | ADV | _ | 48 get | advmod |
| 52 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 2 searched | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | search | past | women = woman | for Ogor; everywhere property | vn search-35.2 «NP V PP.theme NP.location»: agent=Agent for ogor=Theme | ||||
| 2 | not find | could | Ogor | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Topic | |||||
| 3 | think speech: other | past | last Omegha | of the porcupine | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 4 | make up | past | Omegha's mind | vn comprise-107.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme mind=Pivot | |||||
| 5 | ask speech: ask | to-infinitive | Ogor's advice | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S»: agent=Agent advice=Recipient clause=Topic | |||||
| 6 | happen | past · perfect | Ogor | what nsubj | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 7 | is a | past | the best thing | what nsubj | tree rules | ||||
| 8 | do | to-infinitive | women = woman not said here | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 9 | get | to-infinitive | women = woman not said here | Ogor | again | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer he=Stimulus | |||
| 10 | mind | Omegha | nom mind «cognition transitive»: poss=agent |
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/pg70959/7/125/