Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xi.--how a Father Tried to Kill One of His Sons But Failed., sentence 67
Some little time after the leopard had tried so unsuccessfully to kill the boy, the Chief thought he would make a trial to see which of his sons liked him best.
Who acts: little time, Chief, leopard, sons · What happens: try, kill, think, make, see, like · To what, where: leopard, boy, trial · 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 (little time, Chief, leopard, sons), 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 | Some | some | DET | PronType=Ind | 3 time | det |
| 2 | little | little | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 3 time | amod |
| 3 | time | time | NOUN | Number=Sing | 18 thought | obl:unmarked |
| 4 | after | after | SCONJ | _ | 8 tried | mark |
| 5 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 6 leopard | det |
| 6 | leopard | leopard | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 tried | nsubj:pass |
| 7 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 8 tried | aux |
| 8 | tried | try | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 3 time | acl:relcl |
| 9 | so | so | ADV | _ | 10 unsuccessfully | advmod |
| 10 | unsuccessfully | unsuccessfully | ADV | _ | 8 tried | advmod |
| 11 | to | to | PART | _ | 12 kill | mark |
| 12 | kill | kill | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 10 unsuccessfully | advcl |
| 13 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 14 boy | det |
| 14 | boy | boy | NOUN | Number=Sing | 12 kill | obj |
| 15 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 3 time | punct |
| 16 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 17 Chief | det |
| 17 | Chief | Chief | PROPN | Number=Sing | 18 thought | nsubj |
| 18 | thought | think | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 19 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 21 make | nsubj |
| 20 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 21 make | aux |
| 21 | make | make | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 18 thought | ccomp |
| 22 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 23 trial | det |
| 23 | trial | trial | NOUN | Number=Sing | 21 make | obj |
| 24 | to | to | PART | _ | 25 see | mark |
| 25 | see | see | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 21 make | advcl |
| 26 | which | which | PRON | PronType=Rel | 30 liked | obj |
| 27 | of | of | ADP | _ | 29 sons | case |
| 28 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 29 sons | nmod:poss |
| 29 | sons | son | NOUN | Number=Plur | 30 liked | nsubj |
| 30 | liked | like | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 25 see | ccomp |
| 31 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 30 liked | obj |
| 32 | best | well | ADV | Degree=Sup | 30 liked | advmod |
| 33 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 18 thought | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | try | past · perfect · passive | some little time not said here | the leopard | unsuccessfully property | vn try-61.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Eventuality | |||
| 2 | kill | to-infinitive | some little time not said here | the boy | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent boy=Theme | ||||
| 3 | think speech: other | past | the Chief | time | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme | ||||
| 4 | make | would | leopard | a trial | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent trial=Product | ||||
| 5 | see | to-infinitive | leopard not said here | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V how S_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus | |||||
| 6 | like | past | leopard's sons | leopard | which obj; well property | tree rules |
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/pg70959/8/67/