Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xii.--concerning the Okuni Witches and Cannibalism., sentence 27
Then the chief went again to the ju-ju man, and having given him a big “dash,” asked whether the boy would live.
Who acts: chief, boy · What happens: go, give, ask, live · To what, where: big dash, chief
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, boy), 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 | Then | then | ADV | PronType=Dem | 4 went | advmod |
| 2 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 3 chief | det |
| 3 | chief | chief | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 went | nsubj |
| 4 | went | go | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 5 | again | again | ADV | _ | 4 went | advmod |
| 6 | to | to | ADP | _ | 11 man | case |
| 7 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 11 man | det |
| 8 | ju | ju | NOUN | Number=Sing | 10 ju | compound |
| 9 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 8 ju | punct |
| 10 | ju | ju | NOUN | Number=Sing | 11 man | compound |
| 11 | man | man | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 went | obl |
| 12 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 15 given | punct |
| 13 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 15 given | cc |
| 14 | having | have | AUX | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 15 given | aux |
| 15 | given | give | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 4 went | parataxis |
| 16 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 15 given | iobj |
| 17 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 20 dash | det |
| 18 | big | big | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 20 dash | amod |
| 19 | “ | " | PUNCT | _ | 20 dash | punct |
| 20 | dash | dash | NOUN | Number=Sing | 15 given | obj |
| 21 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 4 went | punct |
| 22 | ” | " | PUNCT | _ | 4 went | punct |
| 23 | asked | ask | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 4 went | parataxis |
| 24 | whether | whether | SCONJ | _ | 28 live | mark |
| 25 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 26 boy | det |
| 26 | boy | boy | NOUN | Number=Sing | 28 live | nsubj |
| 27 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 28 live | aux |
| 28 | live | live | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 23 asked | xcomp |
| 29 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 4 went | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | go | past | the chief | then; again | to the ju man | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme to man=Initial_Location | |||
| 2 | give | gerund · perfect | a big dash | chief | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent he=Recipient dash=Theme | ||||
| 3 | ask speech: ask | past | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | ||||||
| 4 | live not said to happen | would | the boy | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V»: agent=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/pg70959/9/27/