Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Ix.--the Story of the War Between Inkum and Enfitop., sentence 55
Six of the best of the prisoners were then killed in front of the ju-ju, and after their blood had been sprinkled on the ground, the bodies were cut up and given to the fighting men, who lit fires and boiled the flesh with yams, pepper and salt.
Who acts: fighting men · What happens: kill, sprinkle, cut up, give, light, boil · To what, where: Six, front, ground, bodies, fighting men, fires
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 (fighting men), 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 | Six | six | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 10 killed | nsubj:pass |
| 2 | of | of | ADP | _ | 4 best | case |
| 3 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 4 best | det |
| 4 | best | good | ADJ | Degree=Sup | 1 Six | nmod |
| 5 | of | of | ADP | _ | 7 prisoners | case |
| 6 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 7 prisoners | det |
| 7 | prisoners | prisoner | NOUN | Number=Plur | 4 best | obl |
| 8 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 10 killed | aux:pass |
| 9 | then | then | ADV | PronType=Dem | 10 killed | advmod |
| 10 | killed | kill | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 11 | in | in | ADP | _ | 12 front | case |
| 12 | front | front | NOUN | Number=Sing | 10 killed | obl |
| 13 | of | of | ADP | _ | 17 ju | case |
| 14 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 17 ju | det |
| 15 | ju | ju | NOUN | Number=Sing | 17 ju | compound |
| 16 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 15 ju | punct |
| 17 | ju | ju | NOUN | Number=Sing | 12 front | nmod |
| 18 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 25 sprinkled | punct |
| 19 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 25 sprinkled | cc |
| 20 | after | after | ADP | _ | 22 blood | case |
| 21 | their | their | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 22 blood | nmod:poss |
| 22 | blood | blood | NOUN | Number=Sing | 25 sprinkled | obl |
| 23 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 25 sprinkled | aux |
| 24 | been | be | AUX | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 25 sprinkled | aux:pass |
| 25 | sprinkled | sprinkle | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 10 killed | conj |
| 26 | on | on | ADP | _ | 28 ground | case |
| 27 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 28 ground | det |
| 28 | ground | ground | NOUN | Number=Sing | 25 sprinkled | obl |
| 29 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 33 cut | punct |
| 30 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 31 bodies | det |
| 31 | bodies | body | NOUN | Number=Plur | 33 cut | nsubj:pass |
| 32 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 33 cut | aux:pass |
| 33 | cut | cut | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 10 killed | parataxis |
| 34 | up | up | ADP | _ | 33 cut | compound:prt |
| 35 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 36 given | cc |
| 36 | given | give | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 33 cut | conj |
| 37 | to | to | ADP | _ | 40 men | case |
| 38 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 40 men | det |
| 39 | fighting | fighting | NOUN | Number=Sing | 40 men | compound |
| 40 | men | man | NOUN | Number=Plur | 36 given | obl |
| 41 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 43 lit | punct |
| 42 | who | who | PRON | PronType=Rel | 43 lit | nsubj |
| 43 | lit | light | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 40 men | acl:relcl |
| 44 | fires | fire | NOUN | Number=Plur | 43 lit | obj |
| 45 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 46 boiled | cc |
| 46 | boiled | boil | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 33 cut | conj |
| 47 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 48 flesh | det |
| 48 | flesh | flesh | NOUN | Number=Sing | 46 boiled | obj |
| 49 | with | with | ADP | _ | 50 yams | case |
| 50 | yams | yam | NOUN | Number=Plur | 46 boiled | obl |
| 51 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 52 pepper | punct |
| 52 | pepper | pepper | NOUN | Number=Sing | 50 yams | appos |
| 53 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 54 salt | cc |
| 54 | salt | salt | NOUN | Number=Sing | 52 pepper | conj |
| 55 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 10 killed | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | kill | past · passive | Six of the best of the prisoners | front of the ju ju | then | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme | |||
| 2 | sprinkle | past · perfect · passive | the ground | after prisoners's blood | vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V PP.destination»: on ground=Destination | ||||
| 3 | cut up | past · passive | the bodies | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: subject=Product | |||||
| 4 | give | participle | the fighting men | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V PP.recipient»: agent=Agent to man=Recipient | |||||
| 5 | light | past | the fighting men | fires | vn preparing-26.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fire=Product | ||||
| 6 | boil | past | the flesh | with yams | vn cooking-45.3 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent flesh=Patient with yam=Instrument |
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/pg70959/7/55/