Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Ix.--the Story of the War Between Inkum and Enfitop., sentence 158
The people who were bathing at the time, when they saw the boy disappear at once, guessed that it must be the water ju-ju who had taken him, so they went and told Chief Eka what they had seen.
Who acts: people, boy, sun, water ju ju, boys · What happens: bath, see, disappear, guess, be, take · To what, where: water ju ju, ju, Chief Eka · 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 (people, boy, sun, water ju ju), 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 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 2 people | det |
| 2 | people | people | NOUN | Number=Plur | 12 saw | nsubj |
| 3 | who | who | PRON | PronType=Rel | 5 bathing | nsubj |
| 4 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 bathing | aux |
| 5 | bathing | bath | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 2 people | acl:relcl |
| 6 | at | at | ADP | _ | 8 time | case |
| 7 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 8 time | det |
| 8 | time | time | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 bathing | obl |
| 9 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 12 saw | punct |
| 10 | when | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 12 saw | advmod |
| 11 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 12 saw | nsubj |
| 12 | saw | see | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 13 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 14 boy | det |
| 14 | boy | boy | NOUN | Number=Sing | 15 disappear | nsubj |
| 15 | disappear | disappear | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 12 saw | parataxis |
| 16 | at | at | ADP | _ | 17 once | case |
| 17 | once | once | ADV | NumForm=Word NumType=Mult | 15 disappear | obl |
| 18 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 19 guessed | punct |
| 19 | guessed | guess | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 12 saw | conj |
| 20 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 28 ju | mark |
| 21 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 28 ju | nsubj |
| 22 | must | must | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 28 ju | aux |
| 23 | be | be | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 28 ju | cop |
| 24 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 28 ju | det |
| 25 | water | water | NOUN | Number=Sing | 28 ju | compound |
| 26 | ju | ju | NOUN | Number=Sing | 28 ju | compound |
| 27 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 26 ju | punct |
| 28 | ju | ju | NOUN | Number=Sing | 19 guessed | ccomp |
| 29 | who | who | PRON | PronType=Rel | 31 taken | nsubj |
| 30 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 31 taken | aux |
| 31 | taken | take | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 28 ju | acl |
| 32 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 31 taken | obj |
| 33 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 36 went | punct |
| 34 | so | so | ADV | _ | 36 went | advmod |
| 35 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 36 went | nsubj |
| 36 | went | go | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 12 saw | parataxis |
| 37 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 38 told | cc |
| 38 | told | tell | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 36 went | conj |
| 39 | Chief | Chief | PROPN | Number=Sing | 40 Eka | compound |
| 40 | Eka | Eka | PROPN | Number=Sing | 38 told | iobj |
| 41 | what | what | PRON | PronType=Int | 44 seen | obj |
| 42 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 44 seen | nsubj |
| 43 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 44 seen | aux |
| 44 | seen | see | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 38 told | ccomp |
| 45 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 12 saw | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | bath | past · progressive | the people | time | tree rules | ||||
| 2 | see | past | the people | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer | |||||
| 3 | disappear | present | the boy | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||||
| 4 | guess | past | the people not said here | vn conjecture-29.5-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 5 | is a | must | sun | the water ju ju | tree rules | ||||
| 6 | take | past · perfect | the water ju ju | ju | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP ADVP»: agent=Instrument he=Destination | ||||
| 7 | go | past | boys = boy | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||||
| 8 | tell speech: assert | past | boys = boy not said here | Chief Eka | vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP what S»: agent=Agent eka=Recipient clause=Topic | ||||
| 9 | see | past · perfect | boys = boy | what obj | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer what=Stimulus |
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/pg70959/7/158/