Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Ix.--the Story of the War Between Inkum and Enfitop., sentence 163
But the water ju-ju refused them, and said, “Tell Chief Eka, if he wants to see his son, let him look in the river in two days’ time.”
Who acts: water, Chief · What happens: refuse, say, tell, want, see, let · To what, where: slaves, Chief, 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 (water, 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 | But | but | CCONJ | _ | 7 refused | cc |
| 2 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 3 water | det |
| 3 | water | water | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 refused | nsubj |
| 4 | ju | ju | PROPN | Number=Sing | 3 water | appos |
| 5 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 6 ju | punct |
| 6 | ju | ju | PROPN | Number=Sing | 4 ju | flat |
| 7 | refused | refuse | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 8 | them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 7 refused | obj |
| 9 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 11 said | punct |
| 10 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 11 said | cc |
| 11 | said | say | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 7 refused | conj |
| 12 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 14 Tell | punct |
| 13 | “ | " | PUNCT | _ | 14 Tell | punct |
| 14 | Tell | tell | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 11 said | ccomp |
| 15 | Chief | Chief | PROPN | Number=Sing | 14 Tell | obj |
| 16 | Eka | Eka | PROPN | Number=Sing | 15 Chief | flat |
| 17 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 20 wants | punct |
| 18 | if | if | SCONJ | _ | 20 wants | mark |
| 19 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 20 wants | nsubj |
| 20 | wants | want | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 14 Tell | conj |
| 21 | to | to | PART | _ | 22 see | mark |
| 22 | see | see | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 20 wants | xcomp |
| 23 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 24 son | nmod:poss |
| 24 | son | son | NOUN | Number=Sing | 22 see | obj |
| 25 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 26 let | punct |
| 26 | let | let | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 14 Tell | conj |
| 27 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 26 let | obj |
| 28 | look | look | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 26 let | xcomp |
| 29 | in | in | ADP | _ | 31 river | case |
| 30 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 31 river | det |
| 31 | river | river | NOUN | Number=Sing | 28 look | obl |
| 32 | in | in | ADP | _ | 36 time | case |
| 33 | two | two | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 34 days | nummod |
| 34 | days | day | NOUN | Number=Plur | 36 time | nmod:poss |
| 35 | ’ | 's | PART | _ | 34 days | case |
| 36 | time | time | NOUN | Number=Sing | 28 look | obl |
| 37 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 14 Tell | punct |
| 38 | ” | " | PUNCT | _ | 14 Tell | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | refuse | past | the water | slaves = slave | vn reject-77.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Theme | ||||
| 2 | say speech: assert | past | the water not said here | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | |||||
| 3 | tell speech: assert in a quote | infinitive | Chief | vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent chief=Recipient | |||||
| 4 | want a condition, not said to happen, in a quote | present | Chief | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme | |||||
| 5 | see not said to happen, in a quote | to-infinitive | Chief not said here | Chief's son | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer son=Stimulus | ||||
| 6 | let in a quote | infinitive | Chief | tree rules | |||||
| 7 | look in a quote | infinitive | Chief not said here | time | in the river | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent in river=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.
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