Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xii.--concerning the Okuni Witches and Cannibalism., sentence 60
But still the boy refused, saying that he was much too fond of his people to have them killed for the witches’ food.
Who acts: boy, people · What happens: refuse, say, be, have, kill · To what, where: people · 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 (boy, 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 | But | but | CCONJ | _ | 5 refused | cc |
| 2 | still | still | ADV | _ | 5 refused | advmod |
| 3 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 4 boy | det |
| 4 | boy | boy | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 refused | nsubj |
| 5 | refused | refuse | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 6 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 7 saying | punct |
| 7 | saying | say | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 5 refused | advcl |
| 8 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 13 fond | mark |
| 9 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 13 fond | nsubj |
| 10 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 13 fond | cop |
| 11 | much | much | ADV | _ | 13 fond | advmod |
| 12 | too | too | ADV | _ | 13 fond | advmod |
| 13 | fond | fond | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 7 saying | ccomp |
| 14 | of | of | ADP | _ | 16 people | case |
| 15 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 16 people | nmod:poss |
| 16 | people | people | NOUN | Number=Plur | 13 fond | obl |
| 17 | to | to | PART | _ | 18 have | mark |
| 18 | have | have | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 7 saying | advcl |
| 19 | them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 18 have | obj |
| 20 | killed | kill | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 18 have | xcomp |
| 21 | for | for | ADP | _ | 25 food | case |
| 22 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 23 witches | det |
| 23 | witches | witch | NOUN | Number=Plur | 25 food | nmod:poss |
| 24 | ’ | 's | PART | _ | 23 witches | case |
| 25 | food | food | NOUN | Number=Sing | 20 killed | obl |
| 26 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 5 refused | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | refuse | past | the boy | still | vn reject-77.2 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 2 | say speech: assert | gerund | the boy not said here | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 3 | is | past | boy | of boy's people; fond property | tree rules | ||||
| 4 | have | to-infinitive | the boy not said here | people | tree rules | ||||
| 5 | kill | participle | people not said here | for the witches's food | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer |
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/pg70959/9/60/