Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xi.--how a Father Tried to Kill One of His Sons But Failed., sentence 3
As a child did not come quickly to Agbor the chief used to beat her and use her very badly as he thought she might never have a child and then he would have paid all the dowry and marriage expenses for nothing.
Who acts: child, Agbor, chief · What happens: not come, use, beat, think, not have, pay · To what, where: Agbor, chief, child · 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 (child, Agbor, 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 | As | as | SCONJ | _ | 6 come | mark |
| 2 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 3 child | det |
| 3 | child | child | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 come | nsubj |
| 4 | did | do | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 6 come | aux |
| 5 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 6 come | advmod |
| 6 | come | come | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | root | root |
| 7 | quickly | quickly | ADV | _ | 6 come | advmod |
| 8 | to | to | ADP | _ | 9 Agbor | case |
| 9 | Agbor | Agbor | PROPN | Number=Sing | 6 come | obl |
| 10 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 11 chief | det |
| 11 | chief | chief | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 come | nsubj |
| 12 | used | use | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 11 chief | acl |
| 13 | to | to | PART | _ | 14 beat | mark |
| 14 | beat | beat | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 12 used | xcomp |
| 15 | her | she | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 14 beat | obj |
| 16 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 17 use | cc |
| 17 | use | use | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 14 beat | conj |
| 18 | her | she | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 17 use | obj |
| 19 | very | very | ADV | _ | 20 badly | advmod |
| 20 | badly | badly | ADV | Degree=Pos | 17 use | advmod |
| 21 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 23 thought | mark |
| 22 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 23 thought | nsubj |
| 23 | thought | think | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 17 use | advcl |
| 24 | she | she | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 27 have | nsubj |
| 25 | might | might | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 27 have | aux |
| 26 | never | never | ADV | PronType=Neg | 27 have | advmod |
| 27 | have | have | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 23 thought | ccomp |
| 28 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 29 child | det |
| 29 | child | child | NOUN | Number=Sing | 27 have | obj |
| 30 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 35 paid | cc |
| 31 | then | then | ADV | PronType=Dem | 35 paid | advmod |
| 32 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 35 paid | nsubj:pass |
| 33 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 35 paid | aux |
| 34 | have | have | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 35 paid | aux |
| 35 | paid | pay | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 23 thought | conj |
| 36 | all | all | DET | PronType=Tot | 38 dowry | det:predet |
| 37 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 38 dowry | det |
| 38 | dowry | dowry | NOUN | Number=Sing | 35 paid | obj |
| 39 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 41 expenses | cc |
| 40 | marriage | marriage | NOUN | Number=Sing | 41 expenses | compound |
| 41 | expenses | expense | NOUN | Number=Plur | 38 dowry | conj |
| 42 | for | for | ADP | _ | 43 nothing | case |
| 43 | nothing | nothing | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Neg | 35 paid | obl |
| 44 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 6 come | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | not come | past · do-support | a child | Agbor | the chief nsubj; quickly property | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme to agbor=Initial_Location | |||
| 2 | use | participle | the chief not said here | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality | |||||
| 3 | beat | to-infinitive | chief | vn sound_emission-43.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location she=Theme | |||||
| 4 | use | infinitive | chief | badly property | vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent she=Patient | ||||
| 5 | think speech: other | past | Agbor | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme | |||||
| 6 | not have | might | chief | a child | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent child=Patient | ||||
| 7 | pay | would · perfect · passive | Agbor | then | for nothing; all dowry and marriage expenses obj | vn pay-68-1 «NP V NP NP PP.theme»: subject=Recipient dowry=Asset for nothing=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.
This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/8/3/