Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xi.--how a Father Tried to Kill One of His Sons But Failed., sentence 35
Chief Osewo sent all his slaves to the other side of the river to cut the leaves of the tombo palm to make roof mats with; they were also to take some rats with them and catch a crocodile.
Who acts: Chief, mats · What happens: send, cut, make, take, catch · To what, where: slaves, other side, leaves, roof mats, rats, crocodile
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 (Chief, mats), 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 | Chief | Chief | PROPN | Number=Sing | 3 sent | nsubj |
| 2 | Osewo | Osewo | PROPN | Number=Sing | 1 Chief | flat |
| 3 | sent | send | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 4 | all | all | DET | PronType=Tot | 6 slaves | det:predet |
| 5 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 6 slaves | nmod:poss |
| 6 | slaves | slave | NOUN | Number=Plur | 3 sent | obj |
| 7 | to | to | ADP | _ | 10 side | case |
| 8 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 10 side | det |
| 9 | other | other | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 10 side | amod |
| 10 | side | side | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 sent | obl |
| 11 | of | of | ADP | _ | 13 river | case |
| 12 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 13 river | det |
| 13 | river | river | NOUN | Number=Sing | 10 side | nmod |
| 14 | to | to | PART | _ | 15 cut | mark |
| 15 | cut | cut | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 3 sent | advcl |
| 16 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 17 leaves | det |
| 17 | leaves | leaf | NOUN | Number=Plur | 15 cut | obj |
| 18 | of | of | ADP | _ | 21 palm | case |
| 19 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 21 palm | det |
| 20 | tombo | tombo | NOUN | Number=Sing | 21 palm | compound |
| 21 | palm | palm | NOUN | Number=Sing | 17 leaves | nmod |
| 22 | to | to | PART | _ | 23 make | mark |
| 23 | make | make | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 15 cut | advcl |
| 24 | roof | roof | NOUN | Number=Sing | 25 mats | compound |
| 25 | mats | mat | NOUN | Number=Plur | 23 make | obj |
| 26 | with | with | ADP | _ | 23 make | obl |
| 27 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 32 take | punct |
| 28 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 32 take | nsubj |
| 29 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 32 take | aux |
| 30 | also | also | ADV | _ | 32 take | advmod |
| 31 | to | to | PART | _ | 32 take | mark |
| 32 | take | take | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 3 sent | parataxis |
| 33 | some | some | DET | PronType=Ind | 34 rats | det |
| 34 | rats | rat | NOUN | Number=Plur | 32 take | obj |
| 35 | with | with | ADP | _ | 36 them | case |
| 36 | them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 34 rats | nmod |
| 37 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 38 catch | cc |
| 38 | catch | catch | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 32 take | conj |
| 39 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 40 crocodile | det |
| 40 | crocodile | crocodile | NOUN | Number=Sing | 38 catch | obj |
| 41 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 3 sent | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | send | past | Chief | plan's slaves | the other side of the river | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent slave=Theme to side=Destination | |||
| 2 | cut | to-infinitive | Chief not said here | the leaves of the tombo palm | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset leaf=Product | ||||
| 3 | make | to-infinitive | Chief not said here | roof mats | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset mat=Product | ||||
| 4 | take | past | mats = mat | some rats | with rats = rat | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent rat=Theme | |||
| 5 | catch | infinitive | mats = mat not said here | a crocodile | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent crocodile=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/pg70959/8/35/