Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Ix.--the Story of the War Between Inkum and Enfitop., sentence 156
This was done for two years and nothing happened, but, in the commencement of the third year, Chief Eka’s son, thinking he was quite safe, thought he would like to bathe, so he went down to the river and went into the water as far as his knees; he then washed himself and returned home.
Who acts: nothing, commencement, Chief · What happens: do, happen, think, be, like, bathe · To what, where: This, water, Chief · 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 (nothing, commencement, 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 | This | this | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 3 done | nsubj:pass |
| 2 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 done | aux:pass |
| 3 | done | do | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 4 | for | for | ADP | _ | 6 years | case |
| 5 | two | two | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 6 years | nummod |
| 6 | years | year | NOUN | Number=Plur | 3 done | obl |
| 7 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 9 happened | cc |
| 8 | nothing | nothing | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Neg | 9 happened | nsubj |
| 9 | happened | happen | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 done | conj |
| 10 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 32 thought | punct |
| 11 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 32 thought | cc |
| 12 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 15 commencement | punct |
| 13 | in | in | ADP | _ | 15 commencement | case |
| 14 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 15 commencement | det |
| 15 | commencement | commencement | NOUN | Number=Sing | 32 thought | nsubj |
| 16 | of | of | ADP | _ | 19 year | case |
| 17 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 19 year | det |
| 18 | third | third | ADJ | Degree=Pos NumForm=Word NumType=Ord | 19 year | amod |
| 19 | year | year | NOUN | Number=Sing | 15 commencement | nmod |
| 20 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 21 Chief | punct |
| 21 | Chief | Chief | PROPN | Number=Sing | 24 son | nmod:poss |
| 22 | Eka | Eka | PROPN | Number=Sing | 21 Chief | flat |
| 23 | ’s | 's | PART | _ | 21 Chief | case |
| 24 | son | son | NOUN | Number=Sing | 15 commencement | nmod |
| 25 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 26 thinking | punct |
| 26 | thinking | think | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 15 commencement | conj |
| 27 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 30 safe | nsubj |
| 28 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 30 safe | cop |
| 29 | quite | quite | ADV | _ | 30 safe | advmod |
| 30 | safe | safe | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 26 thinking | ccomp |
| 31 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 15 commencement | punct |
| 32 | thought | think | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 done | parataxis |
| 33 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 35 like | nsubj |
| 34 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 35 like | aux |
| 35 | like | like | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 32 thought | ccomp |
| 36 | to | to | PART | _ | 37 bathe | mark |
| 37 | bathe | bathe | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 35 like | xcomp |
| 38 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 41 went | punct |
| 39 | so | so | ADV | _ | 41 went | advmod |
| 40 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 41 went | nsubj |
| 41 | went | go | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 32 thought | ccomp |
| 42 | down | down | ADV | _ | 41 went | advmod |
| 43 | to | to | ADP | _ | 45 river | case |
| 44 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 45 river | det |
| 45 | river | river | NOUN | Number=Sing | 41 went | obl |
| 46 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 47 went | cc |
| 47 | went | go | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 41 went | conj |
| 48 | into | into | ADP | _ | 50 water | case |
| 49 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 50 water | det |
| 50 | water | water | NOUN | Number=Sing | 47 went | obl |
| 51 | as | as | ADV | _ | 52 far | advmod |
| 52 | far | far | ADV | Degree=Pos | 47 went | advmod |
| 53 | as | as | ADP | _ | 55 knees | case |
| 54 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 55 knees | nmod:poss |
| 55 | knees | knee | NOUN | Number=Plur | 52 far | obl |
| 56 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 59 washed | punct |
| 57 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 59 washed | nsubj |
| 58 | then | then | ADV | PronType=Dem | 59 washed | advmod |
| 59 | washed | wash | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 32 thought | conj |
| 60 | himself | himself | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs Reflex=Yes | 59 washed | obj |
| 61 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 62 returned | cc |
| 62 | returned | return | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 59 washed | conj |
| 63 | home | home | ADV | _ | 62 returned | advmod |
| 64 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 3 done | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | do | past · passive | This | year | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Eventuality | ||||
| 2 | happen | past | nothing | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||||
| 3 | think speech: other | gerund | the commencement of the third year Chief's son not said here | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 4 | is | past | Chief | safe property | tree rules | ||||
| 5 | think speech: other | past | the commencement of the third year Chief's son | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme | |||||
| 6 | like | would | Chief | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme | |||||
| 7 | bathe not said to happen | to-infinitive | Chief not said here | vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 8 | go down | past | Chief | to the river; down property | vn calibratable_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute | ||||
| 9 | go | past | Chief not said here | the water | far property | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme into water=Initial_Location | |||
| 10 | wash | past | Chief | Chief | then | vn floss-41.2.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent himself=Patient | |||
| 11 | return | past | Chief not said here | home property | 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/pg70959/7/156/