Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xi.--how a Father Tried to Kill One of His Sons But Failed., sentence 49
The rabbit, who was listening all the time, told Agbor of the plan he had heard, and she warned her son not to blow the bellows, but to watch the blacksmith carefully In the morning Chief Osewo told his son to go to the blacksmith and blow the bellows for him as he was making something for him.
Who acts: rabbit, Agbor, chief, Osewo · What happens: listen, tell, hear, warn, not blow, watch · To what, where: Agbor, plan, son, bellows, blacksmith, morning Chief · 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 (rabbit, Agbor, chief, Osewo), 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 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 2 rabbit | det |
| 2 | rabbit | rabbit | NOUN | Number=Sing | 11 told | nsubj |
| 3 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 6 listening | punct |
| 4 | who | who | PRON | PronType=Rel | 6 listening | nsubj |
| 5 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 6 listening | aux |
| 6 | listening | listen | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 2 rabbit | acl:relcl |
| 7 | all | all | DET | PronType=Tot | 9 time | det:predet |
| 8 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 9 time | det |
| 9 | time | time | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 listening | obl:unmarked |
| 10 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 2 rabbit | punct |
| 11 | told | tell | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 12 | Agbor | Agbor | PROPN | Number=Sing | 11 told | iobj |
| 13 | of | of | ADP | _ | 15 plan | case |
| 14 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 15 plan | det |
| 15 | plan | plan | NOUN | Number=Sing | 12 Agbor | nmod |
| 16 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 18 heard | nsubj |
| 17 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 18 heard | aux |
| 18 | heard | hear | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 15 plan | acl:relcl |
| 19 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 22 warned | punct |
| 20 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 22 warned | cc |
| 21 | she | she | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 22 warned | nsubj |
| 22 | warned | warn | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 11 told | conj |
| 23 | her | her | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 24 son | nmod:poss |
| 24 | son | son | NOUN | Number=Sing | 22 warned | obj |
| 25 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 27 blow | advmod |
| 26 | to | to | PART | _ | 27 blow | mark |
| 27 | blow | blow | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 22 warned | ccomp |
| 28 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 29 bellows | det |
| 29 | bellows | bellow | NOUN | Number=Plur | 27 blow | obj |
| 30 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 33 watch | punct |
| 31 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 33 watch | cc |
| 32 | to | to | PART | _ | 33 watch | mark |
| 33 | watch | watch | VERB | Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin | 11 told | parataxis |
| 34 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 35 blacksmith | det |
| 35 | blacksmith | blacksmith | NOUN | Number=Sing | 33 watch | obj |
| 36 | carefully | carefully | ADV | _ | 33 watch | advmod |
| 37 | In | in | ADP | _ | 40 Chief | case |
| 38 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 40 Chief | det |
| 39 | morning | morning | NOUN | Number=Sing | 40 Chief | compound |
| 40 | Chief | Chief | PROPN | Number=Sing | 42 told | obl |
| 41 | Osewo | Osewo | PROPN | Number=Sing | 42 told | nsubj |
| 42 | told | tell | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 33 watch | advcl |
| 43 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 44 son | nmod:poss |
| 44 | son | son | NOUN | Number=Sing | 42 told | iobj |
| 45 | to | to | PART | _ | 46 go | mark |
| 46 | go | go | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 42 told | xcomp |
| 47 | to | to | ADP | _ | 49 blacksmith | case |
| 48 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 49 blacksmith | det |
| 49 | blacksmith | blacksmith | NOUN | Number=Sing | 46 go | obl |
| 50 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 51 blow | cc |
| 51 | blow | blow | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 46 go | conj |
| 52 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 53 bellows | det |
| 53 | bellows | bellow | NOUN | Number=Plur | 51 blow | obj |
| 54 | for | for | ADP | _ | 55 him | case |
| 55 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 51 blow | obl |
| 56 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 59 making | mark |
| 57 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 59 making | nsubj |
| 58 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 59 making | aux |
| 59 | making | make | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 51 blow | advcl |
| 60 | something | something | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Ind | 59 making | obj |
| 61 | for | for | ADP | _ | 62 him | case |
| 62 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 59 making | obl |
| 63 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 11 told | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | listen | past · progressive | the rabbit | time | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 2 | tell speech: assert | past | the rabbit | Agbor of the plan | vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent agbor=Recipient | ||||
| 3 | hear | past · perfect | Agbor | the plan not said here | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer plan=Stimulus | ||||
| 4 | warn speech: warn | past | chief | chief's son | vn advise-37.9-1 «NP V NP how S_INF»: agent=Agent son=Recipient clause=Topic | ||||
| 5 | not blow | to-infinitive | the bellows | vn split-23.2 «NP V NP apart»: agent=Agent bellow=Patient | |||||
| 6 | watch | to-infinitive | the blacksmith | carefully property | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent blacksmith=Theme | ||||
| 7 | tell speech: assert | past | Osewo | Agbor's son | the morning Chief | vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Agent son=Recipient clause=Topic | |||
| 8 | go not said to happen | to-infinitive | Osewo not said here | the blacksmith | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme to blacksmith=Initial_Location | ||||
| 9 | blow | infinitive | Osewo not said here | the bellows | for Agbor | vn build-26.1 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent bellow=Product for he=Beneficiary | |||
| 10 | make | past · progressive | Agbor | something | for son | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent something=Material for he=Beneficiary |
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/pg70959/8/49/