Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xi.--how a Father Tried to Kill One of His Sons But Failed., sentence 79
The people then advised the Chief to divide his property into two shares, so that when he died, one share should belong to Agbor’s son, who would be able to look after his sister; and the other share would be divided amongst the other eight boys.
Who acts: people, Chief, father, one share, son · What happens: advise, divide, die, belong, be, look · To what, where: Chief, property, two shares, other share
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 (people, Chief, father, one share), 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 people | det |
| 2 | people | people | NOUN | Number=Plur | 4 advised | nsubj |
| 3 | then | then | ADV | PronType=Dem | 4 advised | advmod |
| 4 | advised | advise | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 5 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 6 Chief | det |
| 6 | Chief | Chief | PROPN | Number=Sing | 4 advised | obj |
| 7 | to | to | PART | _ | 8 divide | mark |
| 8 | divide | divide | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 4 advised | xcomp |
| 9 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 10 property | nmod:poss |
| 10 | property | property | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 divide | obj |
| 11 | into | into | ADP | _ | 13 shares | case |
| 12 | two | two | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 13 shares | nummod |
| 13 | shares | share | NOUN | Number=Plur | 8 divide | obl |
| 14 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 19 died | punct |
| 15 | so | so | SCONJ | ExtPos=SCONJ | 19 died | mark |
| 16 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 15 so | fixed |
| 17 | when | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 19 died | advmod |
| 18 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 19 died | nsubj |
| 19 | died | die | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 4 advised | parataxis |
| 20 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 24 belong | punct |
| 21 | one | one | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 22 share | nummod |
| 22 | share | share | NOUN | Number=Sing | 24 belong | nsubj |
| 23 | should | should | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 24 belong | aux |
| 24 | belong | belong | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 19 died | conj |
| 25 | to | to | ADP | _ | 28 son | case |
| 26 | Agbor | Agbor | PROPN | Number=Sing | 28 son | nmod:poss |
| 27 | ’s | 's | PART | _ | 26 Agbor | case |
| 28 | son | son | NOUN | Number=Sing | 24 belong | obl |
| 29 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 33 able | punct |
| 30 | who | who | PRON | PronType=Rel | 33 able | nsubj |
| 31 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 33 able | aux |
| 32 | be | be | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 33 able | cop |
| 33 | able | able | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 28 son | advcl |
| 34 | to | to | PART | _ | 35 look | mark |
| 35 | look | look | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 33 able | xcomp |
| 36 | after | after | ADP | _ | 38 sister | case |
| 37 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 38 sister | nmod:poss |
| 38 | sister | sister | NOUN | Number=Sing | 35 look | obl |
| 39 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 46 divided | punct |
| 40 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 46 divided | cc |
| 41 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 43 share | det |
| 42 | other | other | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 43 share | amod |
| 43 | share | share | NOUN | Number=Sing | 46 divided | nsubj:pass |
| 44 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 46 divided | aux |
| 45 | be | be | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 46 divided | aux:pass |
| 46 | divided | divide | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 4 advised | parataxis |
| 47 | amongst | amongst | ADP | _ | 51 boys | case |
| 48 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 51 boys | det |
| 49 | other | other | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 51 boys | amod |
| 50 | eight | eight | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 51 boys | nummod |
| 51 | boys | boy | NOUN | Number=Plur | 46 divided | obl |
| 52 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 4 advised | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | advise speech: other | past | the people | the Chief | then | vn advise-37.9-1 «NP V NP how S_INF»: agent=Agent chief=Recipient clause=Topic | |||
| 2 | divide not said to happen | to-infinitive | the Chief not said here | father's property | two shares | vn multiply-108-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent property=Theme | |||
| 3 | die | past | father | vn calibratable_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute | |||||
| 4 | belong | should | one share | to Agbor's son | vn attend-107.4-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 5 | is | would | Agbor's son | able property | tree rules | ||||
| 6 | look | to-infinitive | Agbor's son not said here | after father's sister | vn stimulus_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus | ||||
| 7 | divide | would · passive | the other share | amongst the other eight boys | vn multiply-108-1 «NP V NP»: subject=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/pg70959/8/79/