Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xi.--how a Father Tried to Kill One of His Sons But Failed., sentence 20
So Agbor asked the Queen to send all her people to the place where her son was going to work, and tell them to bite through the roots of the grass and bush so that her son could make a big clearing with his piece of iron without any trouble.
Who acts: Agbor, son · What happens: ask, send, go, work, tell, bite · To what, where: Queen, people, place, roots, big clearing · Speech: someone speaks here
This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xi.--how a Father Tried to Kill One of His Sons But Failed.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Agbor, son), 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 | So | so | ADV | _ | 3 asked | advmod |
| 2 | Agbor | Agbor | PROPN | Number=Sing | 3 asked | nsubj |
| 3 | asked | ask | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 4 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 5 Queen | det |
| 5 | Queen | Queen | PROPN | Number=Sing | 3 asked | iobj |
| 6 | to | to | PART | _ | 7 send | mark |
| 7 | send | send | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 3 asked | xcomp |
| 8 | all | all | DET | PronType=Tot | 10 people | det:predet |
| 9 | her | her | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 10 people | nmod:poss |
| 10 | people | people | NOUN | Number=Plur | 7 send | obj |
| 11 | to | to | ADP | _ | 13 place | case |
| 12 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 13 place | det |
| 13 | place | place | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 send | obl |
| 14 | where | where | ADV | PronType=Rel | 18 going | advmod |
| 15 | her | her | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 16 son | nmod:poss |
| 16 | son | son | NOUN | Number=Sing | 18 going | nsubj |
| 17 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 18 going | aux |
| 18 | going | go | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 13 place | acl:relcl |
| 19 | to | to | PART | _ | 20 work | mark |
| 20 | work | work | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 18 going | xcomp |
| 21 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 23 tell | punct |
| 22 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 23 tell | cc |
| 23 | tell | tell | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 3 asked | conj |
| 24 | them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 23 tell | iobj |
| 25 | to | to | PART | _ | 26 bite | mark |
| 26 | bite | bite | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 23 tell | xcomp |
| 27 | through | through | ADP | _ | 29 roots | case |
| 28 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 29 roots | det |
| 29 | roots | root | NOUN | Number=Plur | 26 bite | obl |
| 30 | of | of | ADP | _ | 32 grass | case |
| 31 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 32 grass | det |
| 32 | grass | grass | NOUN | Number=Sing | 29 roots | nmod |
| 33 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 34 bush | cc |
| 34 | bush | bush | NOUN | Number=Sing | 32 grass | conj |
| 35 | so | so | SCONJ | ExtPos=SCONJ | 40 make | mark |
| 36 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 35 so | fixed |
| 37 | her | her | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 38 son | nmod:poss |
| 38 | son | son | NOUN | Number=Sing | 40 make | nsubj |
| 39 | could | could | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 40 make | aux |
| 40 | make | make | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 23 tell | advcl |
| 41 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 43 clearing | det |
| 42 | big | big | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 43 clearing | amod |
| 43 | clearing | clearing | NOUN | Number=Sing | 40 make | obj |
| 44 | with | with | ADP | _ | 46 piece | case |
| 45 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 46 piece | nmod:poss |
| 46 | piece | piece | NOUN | Number=Sing | 40 make | obl |
| 47 | of | of | ADP | _ | 48 iron | case |
| 48 | iron | iron | NOUN | Number=Sing | 46 piece | nmod |
| 49 | without | without | ADP | _ | 51 trouble | case |
| 50 | any | any | DET | PronType=Ind | 51 trouble | det |
| 51 | trouble | trouble | NOUN | Number=Sing | 40 make | obl |
| 52 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 3 asked | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ask speech: ask | past | Agbor | the Queen | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S_INF»: agent=Agent queen=Recipient clause=Topic | ||||
| 2 | send not said to happen | to-infinitive | Agbor not said here | Queen's people | the place | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent people=Theme to place=Destination | |||
| 3 | go | past · progressive | Queen's son | vn say-37.7 «NP V S-Quote»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | |||||
| 4 | work | to-infinitive | Queen's son not said here | vn employment-95.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 5 | tell speech: assert | infinitive | Agbor not said here | people | vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Agent they=Recipient clause=Topic | ||||
| 6 | bite not said to happen | to-infinitive | Agbor not said here | the roots of the grass and bush | vn swat-18.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent through root=Location | ||||
| 7 | make | could | Queen's son | a big clearing | with son's piece of iron; without any trouble | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent clearing=Product |
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/pg70959/8/20/