Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xii.--concerning the Okuni Witches and Cannibalism., sentence 50
Although he never spoke about what he had seen, he could not help wondering how it was that he could go in and out of the house when all the doors were fastened.
Who acts: Amoru, meat · What happens: not speak, see, not help, wonder, be, fasten · To what, where: doors · 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 (Amoru, meat), 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 | Although | although | SCONJ | _ | 4 spoke | mark |
| 2 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 4 spoke | nsubj |
| 3 | never | never | ADV | PronType=Neg | 4 spoke | advmod |
| 4 | spoke | speak | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 14 help | advcl |
| 5 | about | about | ADP | _ | 6 what | case |
| 6 | what | what | PRON | PronType=Rel | 4 spoke | obl |
| 7 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 9 seen | nsubj |
| 8 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 9 seen | aux |
| 9 | seen | see | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 6 what | acl:relcl |
| 10 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 4 spoke | punct |
| 11 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 14 help | nsubj |
| 12 | could | could | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 14 help | aux |
| 13 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 14 help | advmod |
| 14 | help | help | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | root | root |
| 15 | wondering | wonder | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 14 help | xcomp |
| 16 | how | how | ADV | PronType=Int | 22 go | advmod |
| 17 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 22 go | nsubj |
| 18 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 22 go | cop |
| 19 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 22 go | mark |
| 20 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 22 go | nsubj |
| 21 | could | could | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 22 go | aux |
| 22 | go | go | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 15 wondering | ccomp |
| 23 | in | in | ADV | _ | 22 go | advmod |
| 24 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 28 house | cc |
| 25 | out | out | ADP | _ | 28 house | case |
| 26 | of | of | ADP | _ | 28 house | case |
| 27 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 28 house | det |
| 28 | house | house | NOUN | Number=Sing | 23 in | conj |
| 29 | when | when | SCONJ | _ | 34 fastened | mark |
| 30 | all | all | DET | PronType=Tot | 32 doors | det:predet |
| 31 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 32 doors | det |
| 32 | doors | door | NOUN | Number=Plur | 34 fastened | nsubj:pass |
| 33 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 34 fastened | aux:pass |
| 34 | fastened | fasten | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 22 go | advcl |
| 35 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 14 help | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | not speak speech: other | past | Amoru | what obl | vn talk-37.5 «NP V PP.topic»: agent=Agent about what=Topic | ||||
| 2 | see | past · perfect | Amoru | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer | |||||
| 3 | not help | could | Amoru | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Theme | |||||
| 4 | wonder speech: ask not said to happen | gerund | Amoru not said here | vn care-88.1-1 «NP V what S»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus | |||||
| 5 | is | could · past | meat | Amoru nsubj; go property | tree rules | ||||
| 6 | fasten | past · passive | all doors | vn shake-22.3-2-1 «NP V NP»: subject=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/pg70959/9/50/