Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xii.--concerning the Okuni Witches and Cannibalism., sentence 36
Elilli then asked him why he wanted to know, so the chief told her that they were tired of Chief ’Ndabu and all his family, and wanted to kill them, but that they were afraid of his ju-ju.
Who acts: Elilli, chief, wives · What happens: ask, want, know, tell, be, kill · To what, where: chief, Elilli, wives · 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 (Elilli, 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 | Elilli | Elilli | PROPN | Number=Sing | 3 asked | nsubj |
| 2 | then | then | ADV | PronType=Dem | 3 asked | advmod |
| 3 | asked | ask | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 4 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 3 asked | iobj |
| 5 | why | why | ADV | PronType=Int | 7 wanted | advmod |
| 6 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 7 wanted | nsubj |
| 7 | wanted | want | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 asked | advcl |
| 8 | to | to | PART | _ | 9 know | mark |
| 9 | know | know | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 7 wanted | xcomp |
| 10 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 14 told | punct |
| 11 | so | so | ADV | _ | 14 told | advmod |
| 12 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 13 chief | det |
| 13 | chief | chief | NOUN | Number=Sing | 14 told | nsubj |
| 14 | told | tell | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 asked | conj |
| 15 | her | she | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 14 told | iobj |
| 16 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 19 tired | mark |
| 17 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 19 tired | nsubj |
| 18 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 19 tired | cop |
| 19 | tired | tired | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 14 told | advcl |
| 20 | of | of | ADP | _ | 23 Ndabu | case |
| 21 | Chief | Chief | PROPN | Number=Sing | 23 Ndabu | nmod:poss |
| 22 | ’ | 's | PART | _ | 21 Chief | case |
| 23 | Ndabu | Ndabu | PROPN | Number=Sing | 19 tired | obl |
| 24 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 27 family | cc |
| 25 | all | all | DET | PronType=Tot | 27 family | det:predet |
| 26 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 27 family | nmod:poss |
| 27 | family | family | NOUN | Number=Sing | 23 Ndabu | conj |
| 28 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 30 wanted | punct |
| 29 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 30 wanted | cc |
| 30 | wanted | want | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 asked | parataxis |
| 31 | to | to | PART | _ | 32 kill | mark |
| 32 | kill | kill | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 30 wanted | xcomp |
| 33 | them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 32 kill | obj |
| 34 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 39 afraid | punct |
| 35 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 39 afraid | cc |
| 36 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 39 afraid | mark |
| 37 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 39 afraid | nsubj |
| 38 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 39 afraid | cop |
| 39 | afraid | afraid | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 30 wanted | conj |
| 40 | of | of | ADP | _ | 44 ju | case |
| 41 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 44 ju | nmod:poss |
| 42 | ju | ju | NOUN | Number=Sing | 44 ju | compound |
| 43 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 42 ju | punct |
| 44 | ju | ju | NOUN | Number=Sing | 39 afraid | obl |
| 45 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 3 asked | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ask speech: ask | past | Elilli | chief | then | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent he=Recipient | |||
| 2 | want | past | chief | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme | |||||
| 3 | know not said to happen | to-infinitive | chief not said here | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer | |||||
| 4 | tell speech: assert | past | the chief | Elilli | vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent she=Recipient | ||||
| 5 | is | past | wives = wife | of Chief's Ndabu and chief's family; tired property | tree rules | ||||
| 6 | want | past | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme | ||||||
| 7 | kill not said to happen | to-infinitive | wives = wife | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Theme | |||||
| 8 | is | past | wives = wife | of chief's ju ju; afraid property | tree rules |
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/pg70959/9/36/