Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xii.--concerning the Okuni Witches and Cannibalism., sentence 51
The next night when he heard the witches play in the town, he was compelled by the witch inside him to go and join them, and found when he got to the cooking place that a man had been killed and hung up to the branch of a tree by his neck.
Who acts: Amoru, witches, witch · What happens: hear, play, compel, go, join, find · To what, where: town, Amoru, houses, cooking place · 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, witches, witch), 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 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 3 night | det |
| 2 | next | next | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 3 night | amod |
| 3 | night | night | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 heard | obl:unmarked |
| 4 | when | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 6 heard | advmod |
| 5 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 6 heard | nsubj |
| 6 | heard | hear | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 7 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 8 witches | det |
| 8 | witches | witch | NOUN | Number=Plur | 9 play | nsubj |
| 9 | play | play | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 6 heard | ccomp |
| 10 | in | in | ADP | _ | 12 town | case |
| 11 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 12 town | det |
| 12 | town | town | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 play | obl |
| 13 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 16 compelled | punct |
| 14 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 16 compelled | nsubj |
| 15 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 16 compelled | aux:pass |
| 16 | compelled | compel | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 6 heard | conj |
| 17 | by | by | ADP | _ | 19 witch | case |
| 18 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 19 witch | det |
| 19 | witch | witch | NOUN | Number=Sing | 16 compelled | obl |
| 20 | inside | inside | ADP | _ | 21 him | case |
| 21 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 19 witch | nmod |
| 22 | to | to | PART | _ | 23 go | mark |
| 23 | go | go | VERB | Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin | 16 compelled | ccomp |
| 24 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 25 join | cc |
| 25 | join | join | VERB | Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin | 23 go | conj |
| 26 | them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 25 join | obj |
| 27 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 29 found | punct |
| 28 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 29 found | cc |
| 29 | found | find | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 6 heard | conj |
| 30 | when | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 32 got | advmod |
| 31 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 32 got | nsubj |
| 32 | got | get | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 29 found | ccomp |
| 33 | to | to | ADP | _ | 36 place | case |
| 34 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 36 place | det |
| 35 | cooking | cooking | NOUN | Number=Sing | 36 place | compound |
| 36 | place | place | NOUN | Number=Sing | 32 got | obl |
| 37 | that | that | PRON | PronType=Rel | 42 killed | nsubj:pass |
| 38 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 39 man | det |
| 39 | man | man | NOUN | Number=Sing | 42 killed | nsubj:pass |
| 40 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 42 killed | aux |
| 41 | been | be | AUX | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 42 killed | aux:pass |
| 42 | killed | kill | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 36 place | acl:relcl |
| 43 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 44 hung | cc |
| 44 | hung | hang | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 42 killed | conj |
| 45 | up | up | ADP | _ | 44 hung | compound:prt |
| 46 | to | to | ADP | _ | 48 branch | case |
| 47 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 48 branch | det |
| 48 | branch | branch | NOUN | Number=Sing | 44 hung | obl |
| 49 | of | of | ADP | _ | 51 tree | case |
| 50 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 51 tree | det |
| 51 | tree | tree | NOUN | Number=Sing | 48 branch | nmod |
| 52 | by | by | ADP | _ | 54 neck | case |
| 53 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 54 neck | nmod:poss |
| 54 | neck | neck | NOUN | Number=Sing | 44 hung | obl |
| 55 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 6 heard | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | hear | past | Amoru | night | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus | ||||
| 2 | play | present | the witches | the town | vn performance-26.7-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 3 | compel | past · passive | the witch inside door | Amoru | vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Agent subject=Patient clause=Result | ||||
| 4 | go | to-infinitive | the witch inside door not said here | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||||
| 5 | join | infinitive | the witch inside door not said here | houses = house | vn mix-22.1-2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Patient | ||||
| 6 | find | past | Amoru not said here | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V what S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Theme | |||||
| 7 | get | past | Amoru | to the cooking place result | vn convert-26.6.2 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Patient to place=Result | ||||
| 8 | kill | past · perfect · passive | the cooking place | a man nsubj:pass | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme | ||||
| 9 | hang up | participle | to the branch of a tree; by Amoru's neck | vn assuming_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent by neck=Location |
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/pg70959/9/51/