Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xii.--concerning the Okuni Witches and Cannibalism., sentence 111
Those people who were very fond of ’Ndabu went so far as to touch his mouth with the food before they eat it.
Who acts: people, Ndabu · What happens: be, go, touch, eat · To what, where: mouth, food
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 (people, Ndabu), 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 | Those | that | DET | Number=Plur PronType=Dem | 2 people | det |
| 2 | people | people | NOUN | Number=Plur | 6 fond | nsubj |
| 3 | who | who | PRON | PronType=Rel | 6 fond | nsubj |
| 4 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 6 fond | cop |
| 5 | very | very | ADV | _ | 6 fond | advmod |
| 6 | fond | fond | ADJ | Degree=Pos | root | root |
| 7 | of | of | SCONJ | _ | 10 went | mark |
| 8 | ’ | ' | PUNCT | _ | 10 went | punct |
| 9 | Ndabu | Ndabu | PROPN | Number=Sing | 10 went | nsubj |
| 10 | went | go | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 6 fond | advcl |
| 11 | so | so | ADV | _ | 12 far | advmod |
| 12 | far | far | ADV | Degree=Pos | 10 went | advmod |
| 13 | as | as | ADP | _ | 10 went | obl |
| 14 | to | to | PART | _ | 15 touch | mark |
| 15 | touch | touch | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 10 went | advcl |
| 16 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 17 mouth | nmod:poss |
| 17 | mouth | mouth | NOUN | Number=Sing | 15 touch | obj |
| 18 | with | with | ADP | _ | 20 food | case |
| 19 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 20 food | det |
| 20 | food | food | NOUN | Number=Sing | 15 touch | obl |
| 21 | before | before | SCONJ | _ | 23 eat | mark |
| 22 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 23 eat | nsubj |
| 23 | eat | eat | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 15 touch | advcl |
| 24 | it | it | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 23 eat | obj |
| 25 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 6 fond | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is | past | that people | who nsubj; fond property | tree rules | ||||
| 2 | go | past | Ndabu | far property | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 3 | touch | to-infinitive | Ndabu not said here | Ndabu's mouth | with the food | vn touch-20-1 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent mouth=Experiencer with food=Instrument | |||
| 4 | eat | present | people | food | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Patient |
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/pg70959/9/111/