Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xi.--how a Father Tried to Kill One of His Sons But Failed., sentence 57
The leopard came in the middle of the night, when it was so dark that he could not see very distinctly, and killed the boy he thought was Agberamfe, but he was mistaken and killed one of his own sons instead.
Who acts: leopard, log, boy · What happens: come, be, not see, kill, think · To what, where: middle, boy, Agberamfe, one
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 (leopard, log, boy), 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 leopard | det |
| 2 | leopard | leopard | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 came | nsubj |
| 3 | came | come | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 4 | in | in | ADP | _ | 6 middle | case |
| 5 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 6 middle | det |
| 6 | middle | middle | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 came | obl |
| 7 | of | of | ADP | _ | 9 night | case |
| 8 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 9 night | det |
| 9 | night | night | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 middle | nmod |
| 10 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 15 dark | punct |
| 11 | when | when | SCONJ | _ | 15 dark | mark |
| 12 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 15 dark | nsubj |
| 13 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 15 dark | cop |
| 14 | so | so | ADV | _ | 15 dark | advmod |
| 15 | dark | dark | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 3 came | conj |
| 16 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 20 see | mark |
| 17 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 20 see | nsubj |
| 18 | could | could | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 20 see | aux |
| 19 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 20 see | advmod |
| 20 | see | see | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 15 dark | advcl |
| 21 | very | very | ADV | _ | 22 distinctly | advmod |
| 22 | distinctly | distinctly | ADV | _ | 20 see | advmod |
| 23 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 25 killed | punct |
| 24 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 25 killed | cc |
| 25 | killed | kill | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 came | conj |
| 26 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 27 boy | det |
| 27 | boy | boy | NOUN | Number=Sing | 31 Agberamfe | nsubj |
| 28 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 29 thought | nsubj |
| 29 | thought | think | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 27 boy | acl:relcl |
| 30 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 31 Agberamfe | cop |
| 31 | Agberamfe | Agberamfe | PROPN | Number=Sing | 25 killed | obl |
| 32 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 36 mistaken | punct |
| 33 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 36 mistaken | cc |
| 34 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 36 mistaken | nsubj |
| 35 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 36 mistaken | cop |
| 36 | mistaken | mistaken | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 3 came | parataxis |
| 37 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 38 killed | cc |
| 38 | killed | kill | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 36 mistaken | conj |
| 39 | one | one | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 38 killed | obj |
| 40 | of | of | ADP | _ | 43 sons | case |
| 41 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 43 sons | nmod:poss |
| 42 | own | own | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 43 sons | amod |
| 43 | sons | son | NOUN | Number=Plur | 39 one | nmod |
| 44 | instead | instead | ADV | _ | 38 killed | advmod |
| 45 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 3 came | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | come | past | the leopard | the middle of the night | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in middle=Location | ||||
| 2 | is | past | log | dark property | tree rules | ||||
| 3 | not see | could | leopard | distinctly property | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer | ||||
| 4 | kill | past | the leopard not said here | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer | |||||
| 5 | think speech: other | past | leopard | the boy not said here | vn wish-62 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot boy=Theme | ||||
| 6 | is a | past | the boy | Agberamfe | tree rules | ||||
| 7 | is | past | leopard | mistaken property | tree rules | ||||
| 8 | kill | past | leopard not said here | one of leopard's own sons | instead property | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent one=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/pg70959/8/57/