Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xii.--concerning the Okuni Witches and Cannibalism., sentence 32
As they grew up, whenever he went to his farm, Chief ’Ndabu used to take all his children with him, and there were many people in the town who were very jealous of him on account of his large family.
Who acts: wives, chief, Ndabu, many people, town · What happens: grow up, go, use, take, be, account · To what, where: farm, children, account, large family
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 (wives, chief, Ndabu, many people), 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 | As | as | SCONJ | _ | 3 grew | mark |
| 2 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 3 grew | nsubj |
| 3 | grew | grow | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 4 | up | up | ADP | _ | 3 grew | compound:prt |
| 5 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 8 went | punct |
| 6 | whenever | whenever | ADV | PronType=Rel | 8 went | advmod |
| 7 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 8 went | nsubj |
| 8 | went | go | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 grew | conj |
| 9 | to | to | ADP | _ | 11 farm | case |
| 10 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 11 farm | nmod:poss |
| 11 | farm | farm | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 went | obl |
| 12 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 16 used | punct |
| 13 | Chief | Chief | PROPN | Number=Sing | 15 Ndabu | nmod:poss |
| 14 | ’ | 's | PART | _ | 13 Chief | case |
| 15 | Ndabu | Ndabu | PROPN | Number=Sing | 16 used | nsubj |
| 16 | used | use | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 8 went | conj |
| 17 | to | to | PART | _ | 18 take | mark |
| 18 | take | take | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 16 used | xcomp |
| 19 | all | all | DET | PronType=Tot | 21 children | det:predet |
| 20 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 21 children | nmod:poss |
| 21 | children | child | NOUN | Number=Plur | 18 take | obj |
| 22 | with | with | ADP | _ | 23 him | case |
| 23 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 18 take | obl |
| 24 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 27 were | punct |
| 25 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 27 were | cc |
| 26 | there | there | PRON | PronType=Dem | 27 were | expl |
| 27 | were | be | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 grew | conj |
| 28 | many | many | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 29 people | amod |
| 29 | people | people | NOUN | Number=Plur | 27 were | nsubj |
| 30 | in | in | ADP | _ | 32 town | case |
| 31 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 32 town | det |
| 32 | town | town | NOUN | Number=Sing | 29 people | nmod |
| 33 | who | who | PRON | PronType=Rel | 36 jealous | nsubj |
| 34 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 36 jealous | cop |
| 35 | very | very | ADV | _ | 36 jealous | advmod |
| 36 | jealous | jealous | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 32 town | acl:relcl |
| 37 | of | of | ADP | _ | 38 him | case |
| 38 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 36 jealous | obl |
| 39 | on | on | ADP | _ | 40 account | case |
| 40 | account | account | NOUN | Number=Sing | 36 jealous | obl |
| 41 | of | of | ADP | _ | 44 family | case |
| 42 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 44 family | nmod:poss |
| 43 | large | large | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 44 family | amod |
| 44 | family | family | NOUN | Number=Sing | 40 account | nmod |
| 45 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 3 grew | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | grow up | past | wives = wife | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||||
| 2 | go | past | chief | chief's farm | whenever property | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme to farm=Initial_Location | |||
| 3 | use | past | Chief's Ndabu | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality | |||||
| 4 | take | to-infinitive | Chief's Ndabu not said here | chief's children | with chief | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP ADVP»: agent=Instrument child=Destination | |||
| 5 | be | past | many people in the town | there | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 6 | is | past | the town | account of chief's large family | of chief; jealous property | tree rules | |||
| 7 | account | chief's large family | nom account «communication transitive»: of=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/pg70959/9/32/