Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xi.--how a Father Tried to Kill One of His Sons But Failed., sentence 78
Osewo also told him of the behaviour of his sons when they thought that their father was dying, and that Agberamfe had stayed by his side and looked after him all the time, although he had so often tried to kill him.
Who acts: Osewo, people, father, Agberamfe · What happens: tell, think, die, stay, look, try · To what, where: father · 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 (Osewo, people, father, Agberamfe), 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 | Osewo | Osewo | PROPN | Number=Sing | 3 told | nsubj |
| 2 | also | also | ADV | _ | 3 told | advmod |
| 3 | told | tell | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 4 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 3 told | iobj |
| 5 | of | of | ADP | _ | 7 behaviour | case |
| 6 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 7 behaviour | det |
| 7 | behaviour | behaviour | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 told | obl |
| 8 | of | of | ADP | _ | 10 sons | case |
| 9 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 10 sons | nmod:poss |
| 10 | sons | son | NOUN | Number=Plur | 7 behaviour | nmod |
| 11 | when | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 13 thought | advmod |
| 12 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 13 thought | nsubj |
| 13 | thought | think | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 told | advcl |
| 14 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 18 dying | mark |
| 15 | their | their | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 16 father | nmod:poss |
| 16 | father | father | NOUN | Number=Sing | 18 dying | nsubj |
| 17 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 18 dying | aux |
| 18 | dying | die | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 13 thought | ccomp |
| 19 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 24 stayed | punct |
| 20 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 24 stayed | cc |
| 21 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 24 stayed | mark |
| 22 | Agberamfe | Agberamfe | PROPN | Number=Sing | 24 stayed | nsubj |
| 23 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 24 stayed | aux |
| 24 | stayed | stay | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 3 told | conj |
| 25 | by | by | ADP | _ | 27 side | case |
| 26 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 27 side | nmod:poss |
| 27 | side | side | NOUN | Number=Sing | 24 stayed | obl |
| 28 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 29 looked | cc |
| 29 | looked | look | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 24 stayed | conj |
| 30 | after | after | ADP | _ | 31 him | case |
| 31 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 29 looked | obl |
| 32 | all | all | DET | PronType=Tot | 34 time | det:predet |
| 33 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 34 time | det |
| 34 | time | time | NOUN | Number=Sing | 29 looked | obl:unmarked |
| 35 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 41 tried | punct |
| 36 | although | although | SCONJ | _ | 41 tried | mark |
| 37 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 41 tried | nsubj |
| 38 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 41 tried | aux |
| 39 | so | so | ADV | _ | 41 tried | advmod |
| 40 | often | often | ADV | _ | 41 tried | advmod |
| 41 | tried | try | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 29 looked | conj |
| 42 | to | to | PART | _ | 43 kill | mark |
| 43 | kill | kill | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 41 tried | xcomp |
| 44 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 43 kill | obj |
| 45 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 3 told | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | tell speech: assert | past | Osewo | father | of the behaviour of father's sons | vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent he=Recipient | |||
| 2 | think speech: other | past | people | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme | |||||
| 3 | die | past · progressive | people's father | vn calibratable_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute | |||||
| 4 | stay | past · perfect | Agberamfe | by father's side | vn exist-47.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme by side=Location | ||||
| 5 | look | past | Agberamfe not said here | after father; time | vn stimulus_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus | ||||
| 6 | try | past · perfect | father | often property | vn try-61.1 «NP V S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality | ||||
| 7 | kill not said to happen | to-infinitive | father not said here | father | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=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/pg70959/8/78/