Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xii.--concerning the Okuni Witches and Cannibalism., sentence 34
One of the Okuni chiefs, called Elullo, who was a witch, said that he was willing to go to Chief ’Ndabu’s house at night and see what he could do, but he was afraid of the ju-ju which the chief kept in a corner of the house, as it was very powerful against witches and might kill him.
Who acts: Elullo, chief, ju ju, corner · What happens: call, be, say, go, see, do · To what, where: Okuni chiefs, witch, Ndabu house, chief, corner · Speech: someone speaks here
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 (Elullo, chief, ju ju, corner), 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 | One | one | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 15 said | ccomp |
| 2 | of | of | ADP | _ | 5 chiefs | case |
| 3 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 5 chiefs | det |
| 4 | Okuni | Okuni | PROPN | Number=Sing | 5 chiefs | compound |
| 5 | chiefs | chief | NOUN | Number=Plur | 1 One | nmod |
| 6 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 7 called | punct |
| 7 | called | call | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 5 chiefs | acl |
| 8 | Elullo | Elullo | PROPN | Number=Sing | 7 called | xcomp |
| 9 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 13 witch | punct |
| 10 | who | who | PRON | PronType=Rel | 13 witch | nsubj |
| 11 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 13 witch | cop |
| 12 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 13 witch | det |
| 13 | witch | witch | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 Elullo | appos |
| 14 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 15 said | punct |
| 15 | said | say | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 16 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 19 willing | mark |
| 17 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 19 willing | nsubj |
| 18 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 19 willing | cop |
| 19 | willing | willing | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 15 said | ccomp |
| 20 | to | to | PART | _ | 21 go | mark |
| 21 | go | go | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 19 willing | xcomp |
| 22 | to | to | ADP | _ | 27 house | case |
| 23 | Chief | Chief | PROPN | Number=Sing | 25 Ndabu | nmod:poss |
| 24 | ’ | 's | PART | _ | 23 Chief | case |
| 25 | Ndabu | Ndabu | PROPN | Number=Sing | 27 house | compound |
| 26 | ’s | 's | PART | _ | 25 Ndabu | case |
| 27 | house | house | NOUN | Number=Sing | 21 go | obl |
| 28 | at | at | ADP | _ | 29 night | case |
| 29 | night | night | NOUN | Number=Sing | 21 go | obl |
| 30 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 31 see | cc |
| 31 | see | see | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 21 go | conj |
| 32 | what | what | PRON | PronType=Int | 35 do | obj |
| 33 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 35 do | nsubj |
| 34 | could | could | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 35 do | aux |
| 35 | do | do | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 31 see | ccomp |
| 36 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 40 afraid | punct |
| 37 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 40 afraid | cc |
| 38 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 40 afraid | nsubj |
| 39 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 40 afraid | cop |
| 40 | afraid | afraid | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 15 said | advcl |
| 41 | of | of | ADP | _ | 45 ju | case |
| 42 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 45 ju | det |
| 43 | ju | ju | NOUN | Number=Sing | 45 ju | compound |
| 44 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 43 ju | punct |
| 45 | ju | ju | NOUN | Number=Sing | 40 afraid | obl |
| 46 | which | which | PRON | PronType=Rel | 48 chief | nsubj |
| 47 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 48 chief | det |
| 48 | chief | chief | NOUN | Number=Sing | 45 ju | appos |
| 49 | kept | keep | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 48 chief | acl |
| 50 | in | in | ADP | _ | 52 corner | case |
| 51 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 52 corner | det |
| 52 | corner | corner | NOUN | Number=Sing | 49 kept | obl |
| 53 | of | of | ADP | _ | 55 house | case |
| 54 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 55 house | det |
| 55 | house | house | NOUN | Number=Sing | 52 corner | nmod |
| 56 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 61 powerful | punct |
| 57 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 61 powerful | mark |
| 58 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 61 powerful | nsubj |
| 59 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 61 powerful | cop |
| 60 | very | very | ADV | _ | 61 powerful | advmod |
| 61 | powerful | powerful | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 40 afraid | conj |
| 62 | against | against | ADP | _ | 63 witches | case |
| 63 | witches | witch | NOUN | Number=Plur | 61 powerful | obl |
| 64 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 66 kill | cc |
| 65 | might | might | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 66 kill | aux |
| 66 | kill | kill | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 61 powerful | conj |
| 67 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 66 kill | obj |
| 68 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 15 said | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | call | participle | the Okuni chiefs not said here | Elullo xcomp | vn initiate_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 2 | is a | past | Elullo | a witch | tree rules | ||||
| 3 | say speech: assert | past | One of the Okuni chiefs ccomp | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 4 | is | past | chief | willing property | tree rules | ||||
| 5 | go | to-infinitive | chief not said here | Ndabu house | night | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme to house=Initial_Location | |||
| 6 | see | infinitive | chief not said here | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V how S_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus | |||||
| 7 | do | could | chief | what obj | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Eventuality | ||||
| 8 | is | past | chief | of the ju ju; afraid property | tree rules | ||||
| 9 | chief | the ju ju | tree rules | ||||||
| 10 | keep | participle | the chief not said here | a corner of the house | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent in corner=Location | ||||
| 11 | is | past | corner | against witches; powerful property | tree rules | ||||
| 12 | kill | might | corner not said here | chief | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=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.
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