Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xii.--concerning the Okuni Witches and Cannibalism., sentence 25
From the time Iya Agagim conceived, the chief kept her in the house, as he was afraid that if she met any of his former wives they might be jealous, and try to do her some injury.
Who acts: Iya, chief, wives · What happens: conceive, keep, be, meet, try, do · To what, where: Iya, house, any, former wives, injury
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 (Iya, chief, wives), 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 | From | from | ADP | _ | 3 time | case |
| 2 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 3 time | det |
| 3 | time | time | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 conceived | obl |
| 4 | Iya | Iya | PROPN | Number=Sing | 6 conceived | nsubj |
| 5 | Agagim | Agagim | PROPN | Number=Sing | 4 Iya | flat |
| 6 | conceived | conceive | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 7 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 10 kept | punct |
| 8 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 9 chief | det |
| 9 | chief | chief | NOUN | Number=Sing | 10 kept | nsubj |
| 10 | kept | keep | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 6 conceived | conj |
| 11 | her | she | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 10 kept | obj |
| 12 | in | in | ADP | _ | 14 house | case |
| 13 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 14 house | det |
| 14 | house | house | NOUN | Number=Sing | 10 kept | obl |
| 15 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 19 afraid | punct |
| 16 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 19 afraid | mark |
| 17 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 19 afraid | nsubj |
| 18 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 19 afraid | cop |
| 19 | afraid | afraid | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 10 kept | conj |
| 20 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 23 met | mark |
| 21 | if | if | SCONJ | _ | 23 met | mark |
| 22 | she | she | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 23 met | nsubj |
| 23 | met | meet | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 19 afraid | advcl |
| 24 | any | any | DET | PronType=Ind | 23 met | obj |
| 25 | of | of | ADP | _ | 28 wives | case |
| 26 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 28 wives | nmod:poss |
| 27 | former | former | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 28 wives | amod |
| 28 | wives | wife | NOUN | Number=Plur | 24 any | nmod |
| 29 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 32 jealous | nsubj |
| 30 | might | might | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 32 jealous | aux |
| 31 | be | be | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 32 jealous | cop |
| 32 | jealous | jealous | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 28 wives | acl:relcl |
| 33 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 35 try | punct |
| 34 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 35 try | cc |
| 35 | try | try | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 6 conceived | conj |
| 36 | to | to | PART | _ | 37 do | mark |
| 37 | do | do | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 35 try | xcomp |
| 38 | her | her | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 40 injury | nmod:poss |
| 39 | some | some | DET | PronType=Ind | 40 injury | det |
| 40 | injury | injury | NOUN | Number=Sing | 37 do | obj |
| 41 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 6 conceived | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | conceive | past | Iya | time | vn characterize-29.2-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 2 | keep | past | the chief | Iya | the house | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent she=Theme in house=Location | |||
| 3 | is | past | chief | afraid property | tree rules | ||||
| 4 | meet a condition, not said to happen | past | Iya | any of chief's former wives | vn meet-36.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent any=Co-Agent | ||||
| 5 | is | might | wives = wife | chief's former wives not said here | jealous property | tree rules | |||
| 6 | try | infinitive | Iya not said here | vn try-61.1 «NP V S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality | |||||
| 7 | do not said to happen | to-infinitive | Iya not said here | Iya's injury | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent injury=Eventuality | ||||
| 8 | injure | Iya | nom injury «state 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/pg70959/9/25/