Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Ix.--the Story of the War Between Inkum and Enfitop., sentence 159
When he heard what had happened, he went to the porcupine and asked him to go to the water ju-ju, and offer him two slaves if he would return his son.
Who acts: ju · What happens: hear, happen, go, ask, offer, return · To what, where: ju, water ju ju, two slaves, son · 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 (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 | When | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 3 heard | advmod |
| 2 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 3 heard | nsubj |
| 3 | heard | hear | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 9 went | advcl |
| 4 | what | what | PRON | PronType=Int | 6 happened | nsubj |
| 5 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 6 happened | aux |
| 6 | happened | happen | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 3 heard | ccomp |
| 7 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 3 heard | punct |
| 8 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 9 went | nsubj |
| 9 | went | go | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 10 | to | to | ADP | _ | 12 porcupine | case |
| 11 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 12 porcupine | det |
| 12 | porcupine | porcupine | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 went | obl |
| 13 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 14 asked | cc |
| 14 | asked | ask | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 9 went | conj |
| 15 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 14 asked | iobj |
| 16 | to | to | PART | _ | 17 go | mark |
| 17 | go | go | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 14 asked | xcomp |
| 18 | to | to | ADP | _ | 23 ju | case |
| 19 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 23 ju | det |
| 20 | water | water | NOUN | Number=Sing | 23 ju | compound |
| 21 | ju | ju | NOUN | Number=Sing | 23 ju | compound |
| 22 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 21 ju | punct |
| 23 | ju | ju | NOUN | Number=Sing | 17 go | obl |
| 24 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 26 offer | punct |
| 25 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 26 offer | cc |
| 26 | offer | offer | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 17 go | conj |
| 27 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 26 offer | obj |
| 28 | two | two | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 29 slaves | nummod |
| 29 | slaves | slave | NOUN | Number=Plur | 26 offer | obj |
| 30 | if | if | SCONJ | _ | 33 return | mark |
| 31 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 33 return | nsubj |
| 32 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 33 return | aux |
| 33 | return | return | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 26 offer | advcl |
| 34 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 35 son | nmod:poss |
| 35 | son | son | NOUN | Number=Sing | 33 return | obj |
| 36 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 9 went | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | hear | past | ju | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus | |||||
| 2 | happen | past · perfect | what nsubj | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||||
| 3 | go | past | ju | to the porcupine | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme to porcupine=Initial_Location | ||||
| 4 | ask speech: ask | past | ju not said here | ju | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S_INF»: agent=Agent he=Recipient clause=Topic | ||||
| 5 | go not said to happen | to-infinitive | ju not said here | the water ju ju | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme to ju=Initial_Location | ||||
| 6 | offer | infinitive | ju not said here | two slaves | ju | vn future_having-13.3 «NP V NP.goal NP»: agent=Agent he=Goal slave=Theme | |||
| 7 | return a condition, not said to happen | would | ju | ju's son | vn send-11.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent son=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/pg70959/7/159/