Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xii.--concerning the Okuni Witches and Cannibalism., sentence 102
They decided that he should be sent to a ju-ju man named Ewo who could take witches out of people, and they agreed to pay his charges, which amounted to one slave, between them.
Who acts: parents, ju ju man, charges, chief · What happens: decide, send, name, take, agree, pay · To what, where: chief, ju ju man, witches, charges · Speech: someone speaks here
This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xii.--concerning the Okuni Witches and Cannibalism.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (parents, ju ju man, charges, chief), 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 | They | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 2 decided | nsubj |
| 2 | decided | decide | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 3 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 7 sent | mark |
| 4 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 7 sent | nsubj |
| 5 | should | should | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 7 sent | aux |
| 6 | be | be | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 7 sent | aux:pass |
| 7 | sent | send | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 2 decided | ccomp |
| 8 | to | to | ADP | _ | 13 man | case |
| 9 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 13 man | det |
| 10 | ju | ju | NOUN | Number=Sing | 13 man | compound |
| 11 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 10 ju | punct |
| 12 | ju | ju | NOUN | Number=Sing | 13 man | compound |
| 13 | man | man | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 sent | obl |
| 14 | named | name | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 13 man | acl |
| 15 | Ewo | Ewo | PROPN | Number=Sing | 14 named | xcomp |
| 16 | who | who | PRON | PronType=Rel | 18 take | nsubj |
| 17 | could | could | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 18 take | aux |
| 18 | take | take | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 13 man | acl:relcl |
| 19 | witches | witch | NOUN | Number=Plur | 18 take | obj |
| 20 | out | out | ADP | _ | 22 people | case |
| 21 | of | of | ADP | _ | 22 people | case |
| 22 | people | people | NOUN | Number=Plur | 18 take | obl |
| 23 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 26 agreed | punct |
| 24 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 26 agreed | cc |
| 25 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 26 agreed | nsubj |
| 26 | agreed | agree | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 2 decided | conj |
| 27 | to | to | PART | _ | 28 pay | mark |
| 28 | pay | pay | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 26 agreed | xcomp |
| 29 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 30 charges | nmod:poss |
| 30 | charges | charge | NOUN | Number=Plur | 28 pay | obj |
| 31 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 33 amounted | punct |
| 32 | which | which | PRON | PronType=Rel | 33 amounted | nsubj |
| 33 | amounted | amount | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 30 charges | acl:relcl |
| 34 | to | to | ADP | _ | 36 slave | case |
| 35 | one | one | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 36 slave | nummod |
| 36 | slave | slave | NOUN | Number=Sing | 33 amounted | obl |
| 37 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 39 them | punct |
| 38 | between | between | ADP | _ | 39 them | case |
| 39 | them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 33 amounted | conj |
| 40 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 2 decided | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | decide | past | parents = parent | vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V what S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | |||||
| 2 | send | should · passive | chief | a ju ju man | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme to man=Destination | ||||
| 3 | name | participle | a ju ju man not said here | Ewo xcomp | vn appoint-29.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 4 | take | could | a ju ju man | witches | out people | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP PP.initial_location»: agent=Agent witch=Theme out people=Initial_Location | |||
| 5 | agree speech: agree | past | parents = parent | vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V what S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | |||||
| 6 | pay not said to happen | to-infinitive | parents = parent not said here | chief's charges | vn pay-68-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent charge=Asset | ||||
| 7 | amount | past | chief's charges | to one slave; parents = parent conj | vn register-54.1-1 «NP V PP.value»: agent=Theme to slave=Value | ||||
| 8 | charge | chief | nom charge «act transitive»: poss=agent |
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/pg70959/9/102/