Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xi.--how a Father Tried to Kill One of His Sons But Failed., sentence 24

In the evening when the chief’s favourite wife came to join him, the rabbit heard him tell her that the next day he was going to take all his sons into the bush to clear his farm, and that the one who was last in doing his share of work would be killed, and that all the boys would be placed in a line and he would tell them to clear the bush to where he would be standing and that as he had given Agberamfe a piece of iron instead of a matchet, he was certain to be last and would be killed.

Who acts: favourite wife, rabbit, Agbor, one · What happens: come, join, hear, tell, go, take · To what, where: Agbor, chief, sons, bush, farm, share · 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 (favourite wife, rabbit, Agbor, one), 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	In	in	ADP	_	3 evening	case
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 evening	det
3	evening	evening	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 came	obl
4	when	when	ADV	PronType=Int	10 came	advmod
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 chief	det
6	chief	chief	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 wife	nmod:poss
7	’s	's	PART	_	6 chief	case
8	favourite	favourite	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 wife	amod
9	wife	wife	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 came	nsubj
10	came	come	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
11	to	to	PART	_	12 join	mark
12	join	join	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	10 came	xcomp
13	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	12 join	obj
14	,	,	PUNCT	_	17 heard	punct
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 rabbit	det
16	rabbit	rabbit	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 heard	nsubj
17	heard	hear	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	10 came	conj
18	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	17 heard	obj
19	tell	tell	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	17 heard	xcomp
20	her	she	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	19 tell	iobj
21	that	that	SCONJ	_	27 going	mark
22	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	24 day	det
23	next	next	ADJ	Degree=Pos	24 day	amod
24	day	day	NOUN	Number=Sing	27 going	obl:unmarked
25	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	27 going	nsubj
26	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	27 going	aux
27	going	go	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	19 tell	ccomp
28	to	to	PART	_	29 take	mark
29	take	take	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	27 going	xcomp
30	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	32 sons	det:predet
31	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	32 sons	nmod:poss
32	sons	son	NOUN	Number=Plur	29 take	obj
33	into	into	ADP	_	35 bush	case
34	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	35 bush	det
35	bush	bush	NOUN	Number=Sing	29 take	obl
36	to	to	PART	_	37 clear	mark
37	clear	clear	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	29 take	advcl
38	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	39 farm	nmod:poss
39	farm	farm	NOUN	Number=Sing	37 clear	obj
40	,	,	PUNCT	_	56 killed	punct
41	and	and	CCONJ	_	56 killed	cc
42	that	that	SCONJ	_	56 killed	mark
43	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	44 one	det
44	one	one	NOUN	Number=Sing	56 killed	nsubj:pass
45	who	who	PRON	PronType=Rel	47 last	nsubj
46	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	47 last	cop
47	last	last	ADJ	Degree=Pos	44 one	acl:relcl
48	in	in	SCONJ	_	49 doing	mark
49	doing	do	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	47 last	advcl
50	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	51 share	nmod:poss
51	share	share	NOUN	Number=Sing	49 doing	obj
52	of	of	ADP	_	53 work	case
53	work	work	NOUN	Number=Sing	51 share	nmod
54	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	56 killed	aux
55	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	56 killed	aux:pass
56	killed	kill	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	10 came	conj
57	,	,	PUNCT	_	65 placed	punct
58	and	and	CCONJ	_	65 placed	cc
59	that	that	SCONJ	_	65 placed	mark
60	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	62 boys	det:predet
61	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	62 boys	det
62	boys	boy	NOUN	Number=Plur	65 placed	nsubj:pass
63	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	65 placed	aux
64	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	65 placed	aux:pass
65	placed	place	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	10 came	conj
66	in	in	ADP	_	68 line	case
67	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	68 line	det
68	line	line	NOUN	Number=Sing	65 placed	obl
69	and	and	CCONJ	_	72 tell	cc
70	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	72 tell	nsubj
71	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	72 tell	aux
72	tell	tell	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	10 came	conj
73	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	72 tell	iobj
74	to	to	PART	_	75 clear	mark
75	clear	clear	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	72 tell	xcomp
76	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	77 bush	det
77	bush	bush	NOUN	Number=Sing	75 clear	obj
78	to	to	SCONJ	_	83 standing	mark
79	where	where	ADV	PronType=Rel	83 standing	advmod
80	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	83 standing	nsubj
81	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	83 standing	aux
82	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	83 standing	aux
83	standing	stand	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	77 bush	acl
84	and	and	CCONJ	_	85 that	cc
85	that	that	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	83 standing	obl
86	as	as	SCONJ	_	89 given	mark
87	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	89 given	nsubj:pass
88	had	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	89 given	aux
89	given	give	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	72 tell	advcl
90	Agberamfe	Agberamfe	PROPN	Number=Sing	89 given	iobj
91	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	92 piece	det
92	piece	piece	NOUN	Number=Sing	89 given	obj
93	of	of	ADP	_	94 iron	case
94	iron	iron	NOUN	Number=Sing	92 piece	nmod
95	instead	instead	ADV	ExtPos=ADP	98 matchet	case
96	of	of	ADP	_	95 instead	fixed
97	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	98 matchet	det
98	matchet	matchet	NOUN	Number=Sing	89 given	obl
99	,	,	PUNCT	_	102 certain	punct
100	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	102 certain	nsubj
101	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	102 certain	cop
102	certain	certain	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 came	conj
103	to	to	PART	_	105 last	mark
104	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	105 last	cop
105	last	last	ADJ	Degree=Pos	102 certain	advcl
106	and	and	CCONJ	_	109 killed	cc
107	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	109 killed	aux
108	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	109 killed	aux:pass
109	killed	kill	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	102 certain	conj
110	.	.	PUNCT	_	10 came	punct

Pragmatics

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	come	past	the chief's favourite wife				evening		tree rules
2	join	to-infinitive	the chief's favourite wife not said here	Agbor					vn mix-22.1-2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Patient
3	hear	past	the rabbit	Agbor					tree rules
4	tell speech: assert	infinitive	Agbor not said here		chief				vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Agent she=Recipient clause=Topic
5	go	past · progressive	Agbor				day		vn say-37.7 «NP V S-Quote»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
6	take	to-infinitive	Agbor not said here	Agbor's sons		the bush			vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent son=Theme into bush=Destination
7	clear	to-infinitive	Agbor not said here	Agbor's farm					vn clear-10.3-1 «NP V NP.source»: agent=Agent farm=Source
8	is	past	the one					last property	tree rules
9	do	gerund	the one not said here	Agbor's share of work					vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent share=Eventuality
10	kill	would · passive		the one					vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme
11	place	would · passive		all boys		a line			vn put-9.1-2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme in line=Destination
12	tell speech: assert	would	Agbor		rabbit				vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Agent they=Recipient clause=Topic
13	clear not said to happen	to-infinitive	Agbor not said here	the bush					vn clear-10.3-1 «NP V NP.source»: agent=Agent bush=Source
14	stand	would · progressive	Agbor	the bush					vn assuming_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent
15	give	past · perfect · passive		Agbor	Agberamfe			instead a matchet; a piece of iron obj	tree rules
16	is	past	Agbor					certain property	tree rules
17	is	to-infinitive	Agbor not said here					last property	tree rules
18	kill	would · passive	Agbor not said here						vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»
19	share		Agbor	work					nom share «possession transitive»: poss=agent of=patient

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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🌲 Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xi.--how a Father Tried to Kill One of His Sons But Failed., sentence 24

The tree

Pragmatics

Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xi.--how a Father Tried to Kill One of His Sons But Failed., sentence 24