Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xii.--concerning the Okuni Witches and Cannibalism., sentence 14
The following day the chief sent to his farm for yams which he gave to his wives, and many rods as a dash; he then sent them back to their respective parents.
Who acts: chief, yams · What happens: follow, send, give, send back · To what, where: many rods, farm, wives, respective parents
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 (chief, yams), 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 | 3 day | det |
| 2 | following | follow | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 3 day | amod |
| 3 | day | day | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 sent | obl:unmarked |
| 4 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 5 chief | det |
| 5 | chief | chief | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 sent | nsubj |
| 6 | sent | send | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 7 | to | to | ADP | _ | 9 farm | case |
| 8 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 9 farm | nmod:poss |
| 9 | farm | farm | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 sent | obl |
| 10 | for | for | ADP | _ | 11 yams | case |
| 11 | yams | yam | NOUN | Number=Plur | 6 sent | obl |
| 12 | which | which | PRON | PronType=Rel | 14 gave | nsubj |
| 13 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 14 gave | nsubj |
| 14 | gave | give | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 11 yams | acl:relcl |
| 15 | to | to | ADP | _ | 17 wives | case |
| 16 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 17 wives | nmod:poss |
| 17 | wives | wife | NOUN | Number=Plur | 14 gave | obl |
| 18 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 21 rods | punct |
| 19 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 21 rods | cc |
| 20 | many | many | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 21 rods | amod |
| 21 | rods | rod | NOUN | Number=Plur | 6 sent | obl |
| 22 | as | as | ADP | _ | 24 dash | case |
| 23 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 24 dash | det |
| 24 | dash | dash | NOUN | Number=Sing | 21 rods | nmod |
| 25 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 28 sent | punct |
| 26 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 28 sent | nsubj |
| 27 | then | then | ADV | PronType=Dem | 28 sent | advmod |
| 28 | sent | send | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 6 sent | conj |
| 29 | them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 28 sent | obj |
| 30 | back | back | ADV | _ | 28 sent | advmod |
| 31 | to | to | ADP | _ | 34 parents | case |
| 32 | their | their | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 34 parents | nmod:poss |
| 33 | respective | respective | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 34 parents | amod |
| 34 | parents | parent | NOUN | Number=Plur | 28 sent | obl |
| 35 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 6 sent | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | follow | gerund | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||||
| 2 | send | past | the chief | many rods as a dash | chief's farm | day | for yams | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent to farm=Destination | |
| 3 | give | past | yams | chief's wives | chief nsubj | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V PP.recipient»: agent=Agent to wife=Recipient | |||
| 4 | send back | past | chief | wives = wife | wives's respective parents | then | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent they=Theme to parent=Destination |
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/pg70959/9/14/