Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Ix.--the Story of the War Between Inkum and Enfitop., sentence 92
Her father was very fond of her, but often said that he wished she had been a boy as she would then have been able to help him with his work on the farm.
Who acts: father, man, Omegha · What happens: be, say, wish, help, work · To what, where: boy, man, farm · 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 (father, man, Omegha), 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 | Her | her | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 2 father | nmod:poss |
| 2 | father | father | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 fond | nsubj |
| 3 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 fond | cop |
| 4 | very | very | ADV | _ | 5 fond | advmod |
| 5 | fond | fond | ADJ | Degree=Pos | root | root |
| 6 | of | of | ADP | _ | 7 her | case |
| 7 | her | she | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 5 fond | obl |
| 8 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 11 said | punct |
| 9 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 11 said | cc |
| 10 | often | often | ADV | _ | 11 said | advmod |
| 11 | said | say | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 fond | conj |
| 12 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 14 wished | mark |
| 13 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 14 wished | nsubj |
| 14 | wished | wish | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 11 said | ccomp |
| 15 | she | she | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 19 boy | nsubj |
| 16 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 19 boy | aux |
| 17 | been | be | AUX | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 19 boy | cop |
| 18 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 19 boy | det |
| 19 | boy | boy | NOUN | Number=Sing | 14 wished | ccomp |
| 20 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 26 able | mark |
| 21 | she | she | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 26 able | nsubj |
| 22 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 26 able | aux |
| 23 | then | then | ADV | PronType=Dem | 26 able | advmod |
| 24 | have | have | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 26 able | aux |
| 25 | been | be | AUX | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 26 able | cop |
| 26 | able | able | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 14 wished | advcl |
| 27 | to | to | PART | _ | 28 help | mark |
| 28 | help | help | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 26 able | xcomp |
| 29 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 28 help | obj |
| 30 | with | with | ADP | _ | 32 work | case |
| 31 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 32 work | nmod:poss |
| 32 | work | work | NOUN | Number=Sing | 28 help | obl |
| 33 | on | on | ADP | _ | 35 farm | case |
| 34 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 35 farm | det |
| 35 | farm | farm | NOUN | Number=Sing | 32 work | nmod |
| 36 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 5 fond | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is | past | Omegha's father | of Omegha; fond property | tree rules | ||||
| 2 | say speech: assert | past | Omegha's father not said here | often property | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | ||||
| 3 | wish | past | man | vn wish-62 «NP V for NP S_INF»: agent=Pivot | |||||
| 4 | is a | past · perfect | Omegha | a boy | tree rules | ||||
| 5 | is | would · perfect | Omegha | then | able property | tree rules | |||
| 6 | help | to-infinitive | Omegha not said here | man | with man's work on the farm | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent he=Beneficiary with work=Theme | |||
| 7 | work | man | the farm | nom work «act intransitive»: poss=agent on=place |
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/pg70959/7/92/