Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xii.--concerning the Okuni Witches and Cannibalism., sentence 68
Amoru then said, “the time has now arrived when I have to produce a man or a woman for the witches to eat, and they want my father or mother or one of us children, but as I do not want to give them anyone I thought I would get you to help me as you are big and strong.”
Who acts: Amoru, brothers, you · What happens: say, arrive, have, produce, eat, want · To what, where: man, father, anyone, brothers, you, Amoru · 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, brothers, you), 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 | Amoru | Amoru | PROPN | Number=Sing | 3 said | nsubj |
| 2 | then | then | ADV | PronType=Dem | 3 said | advmod |
| 3 | said | say | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 4 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 10 arrived | punct |
| 5 | “ | " | PUNCT | _ | 10 arrived | punct |
| 6 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 7 time | det |
| 7 | time | time | NOUN | Number=Sing | 10 arrived | obl:unmarked |
| 8 | has | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 10 arrived | aux |
| 9 | now | now | ADV | PronType=Dem | 10 arrived | advmod |
| 10 | arrived | arrive | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 3 said | ccomp |
| 11 | when | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 13 have | advmod |
| 12 | I | I | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 13 have | nsubj |
| 13 | have | have | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 10 arrived | advcl |
| 14 | to | to | PART | _ | 15 produce | mark |
| 15 | produce | produce | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 13 have | xcomp |
| 16 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 17 man | det |
| 17 | man | man | NOUN | Number=Sing | 15 produce | obj |
| 18 | or | or | CCONJ | _ | 20 woman | cc |
| 19 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 20 woman | det |
| 20 | woman | woman | NOUN | Number=Sing | 17 man | conj |
| 21 | for | for | ADP | _ | 23 witches | case |
| 22 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 23 witches | det |
| 23 | witches | witch | NOUN | Number=Plur | 15 produce | obl |
| 24 | to | to | PART | _ | 25 eat | mark |
| 25 | eat | eat | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 23 witches | acl |
| 26 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 29 want | punct |
| 27 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 29 want | cc |
| 28 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 29 want | nsubj |
| 29 | want | want | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 10 arrived | conj |
| 30 | my | my | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Sing Person=1 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 31 father | nmod:poss |
| 31 | father | father | NOUN | Number=Sing | 29 want | obj |
| 32 | or | or | CCONJ | _ | 33 mother | cc |
| 33 | mother | mother | NOUN | Number=Sing | 31 father | conj |
| 34 | or | or | CCONJ | _ | 38 children | cc |
| 35 | one | one | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 38 children | nummod |
| 36 | of | of | ADP | _ | 37 us | case |
| 37 | us | we | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=1 PronType=Prs | 35 one | nmod |
| 38 | children | child | NOUN | Number=Plur | 31 father | conj |
| 39 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 45 want | punct |
| 40 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 45 want | cc |
| 41 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 45 want | mark |
| 42 | I | I | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 45 want | nsubj |
| 43 | do | do | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 45 want | aux |
| 44 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 45 want | advmod |
| 45 | want | want | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 3 said | ccomp |
| 46 | to | to | PART | _ | 47 give | mark |
| 47 | give | give | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 45 want | xcomp |
| 48 | them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 47 give | iobj |
| 49 | anyone | anyone | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Ind | 47 give | obj |
| 50 | I | I | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 51 thought | nsubj |
| 51 | thought | think | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 49 anyone | acl:relcl |
| 52 | I | I | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 54 get | nsubj |
| 53 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 54 get | aux |
| 54 | get | get | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 51 thought | ccomp |
| 55 | you | you | PRON | Case=Acc Person=2 PronType=Prs | 54 get | obj |
| 56 | to | to | PART | _ | 57 help | mark |
| 57 | help | help | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 54 get | xcomp |
| 58 | me | I | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 57 help | obj |
| 59 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 62 big | mark |
| 60 | you | you | PRON | Case=Nom Person=2 PronType=Prs | 62 big | nsubj |
| 61 | are | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=2 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 62 big | cop |
| 62 | big | big | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 57 help | advcl |
| 63 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 64 strong | cc |
| 64 | strong | strong | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 62 big | conj |
| 65 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 45 want | punct |
| 66 | ” | " | PUNCT | _ | 45 want | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | say speech: assert | past | Amoru | then | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | ||||
| 2 | arrive in a quote | present · perfect | now; time | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||||
| 3 | have in a quote | present | Amoru | tree rules | |||||
| 4 | produce in a quote | to-infinitive | Amoru not said here | a man or a woman | for the witches | vn create-26.4 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent man=Result for witch=Beneficiary | |||
| 5 | eat in a quote | to-infinitive | Amoru not said here | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 6 | want in a quote | present | brothers = brother | my father or mother or one children | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot father=Theme | ||||
| 7 | not want in a quote | present · do-support | Amoru | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme | |||||
| 8 | give not said to happen, in a quote | to-infinitive | Amoru not said here | anyone | brothers = brother | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent they=Recipient anyone=Theme | |||
| 9 | think speech: other in a quote | past | Amoru | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme | |||||
| 10 | get in a quote | would | Amoru | you | tree rules | ||||
| 11 | help in a quote | to-infinitive | you not said here | Amoru | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent i=Beneficiary | ||||
| 12 | is in a quote | present | you | big property | tree rules | ||||
| 13 | be in a quote | you not said here | 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/pg70959/9/68/