Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xii.--concerning the Okuni Witches and Cannibalism., sentence 47
Chief Elullo then cautioned the boy never to tell anyone what he saw, and then took him to the place where they cooked human food, and gave him a piece of flesh and some yam to eat.
Who acts: Chief, people · What happens: caution, not tell, see, take, cook, give · To what, where: boy, anyone, chief, place, human food, piece · 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 (Chief, 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 | Chief | Chief | PROPN | Number=Sing | 4 cautioned | nsubj |
| 2 | Elullo | Elullo | PROPN | Number=Sing | 1 Chief | flat |
| 3 | then | then | ADV | PronType=Dem | 4 cautioned | advmod |
| 4 | cautioned | caution | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 5 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 6 boy | det |
| 6 | boy | boy | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 cautioned | obj |
| 7 | never | never | ADV | PronType=Neg | 9 tell | advmod |
| 8 | to | to | PART | _ | 9 tell | mark |
| 9 | tell | tell | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 4 cautioned | advcl |
| 10 | anyone | anyone | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Ind | 9 tell | obj |
| 11 | what | what | PRON | PronType=Int | 13 saw | obj |
| 12 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 13 saw | nsubj |
| 13 | saw | see | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 9 tell | ccomp |
| 14 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 17 took | punct |
| 15 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 17 took | cc |
| 16 | then | then | ADV | PronType=Dem | 17 took | advmod |
| 17 | took | take | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 4 cautioned | conj |
| 18 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 17 took | obj |
| 19 | to | to | ADP | _ | 21 place | case |
| 20 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 21 place | det |
| 21 | place | place | NOUN | Number=Sing | 17 took | obl |
| 22 | where | where | ADV | PronType=Rel | 24 cooked | advmod |
| 23 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 24 cooked | nsubj |
| 24 | cooked | cook | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 21 place | acl:relcl |
| 25 | human | human | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 26 food | amod |
| 26 | food | food | NOUN | Number=Sing | 24 cooked | obj |
| 27 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 29 gave | punct |
| 28 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 29 gave | cc |
| 29 | gave | give | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 17 took | conj |
| 30 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 29 gave | iobj |
| 31 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 32 piece | det |
| 32 | piece | piece | NOUN | Number=Sing | 29 gave | obj |
| 33 | of | of | ADP | _ | 34 flesh | case |
| 34 | flesh | flesh | NOUN | Number=Sing | 32 piece | nmod |
| 35 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 37 yam | cc |
| 36 | some | some | DET | PronType=Ind | 37 yam | det |
| 37 | yam | yam | NOUN | Number=Sing | 32 piece | conj |
| 38 | to | to | PART | _ | 39 eat | mark |
| 39 | eat | eat | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 37 yam | acl |
| 40 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 4 cautioned | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | caution speech: other | past | Chief | the boy | then | vn advise-37.9-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent boy=Recipient | |||
| 2 | not tell speech: assert | to-infinitive | Chief not said here | anyone | vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP what S»: agent=Agent anyone=Recipient clause=Topic | ||||
| 3 | see | past | chief | what obj | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer what=Stimulus | ||||
| 4 | take | past | Chief not said here | chief | the place | then | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent he=Theme to place=Destination | ||
| 5 | cook | past | people | human food | vn cooking-45.3 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent food=Patient | ||||
| 6 | give | past | Chief not said here | a piece of flesh and some yam | chief | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent he=Recipient piece=Theme | |||
| 7 | eat | to-infinitive | Chief not said here | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V»: agent=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/pg70959/9/47/