Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xii.--concerning the Okuni Witches and Cannibalism., sentence 69
At first Nkanyan could not believe his young brother’s story, so Amoru brought him to the place where he had hidden the meat, and showed it to him asking him not to tell anyone as he had thought of a plan.
Who acts: Amoru · What happens: not believe, bring, hide, show, ask, not tell · To what, where: story, first Nkanyan, man, place, meat, 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), 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 | At | at | ADP | _ | 3 Nkanyan | case |
| 2 | first | first | ADJ | Degree=Pos NumForm=Word NumType=Ord | 3 Nkanyan | amod |
| 3 | Nkanyan | Nkanyan | PROPN | Number=Sing | 6 believe | obl |
| 4 | could | could | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 6 believe | aux |
| 5 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 6 believe | advmod |
| 6 | believe | believe | VERB | Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 7 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 9 brother | nmod:poss |
| 8 | young | young | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 9 brother | amod |
| 9 | brother | brother | NOUN | Number=Sing | 11 story | nmod:poss |
| 10 | ’s | 's | PART | _ | 9 brother | case |
| 11 | story | story | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 believe | obj |
| 12 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 15 brought | punct |
| 13 | so | so | ADV | _ | 15 brought | advmod |
| 14 | Amoru | Amoru | PROPN | Number=Sing | 15 brought | nsubj |
| 15 | brought | bring | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 6 believe | conj |
| 16 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 15 brought | obj |
| 17 | to | to | ADP | _ | 19 place | case |
| 18 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 19 place | det |
| 19 | place | place | NOUN | Number=Sing | 15 brought | obl |
| 20 | where | where | ADV | PronType=Rel | 23 hidden | advmod |
| 21 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 23 hidden | nsubj |
| 22 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 23 hidden | aux |
| 23 | hidden | hide | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 19 place | acl:relcl |
| 24 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 25 meat | det |
| 25 | meat | meat | NOUN | Number=Sing | 23 hidden | obj |
| 26 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 28 showed | punct |
| 27 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 28 showed | cc |
| 28 | showed | show | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 6 believe | conj |
| 29 | it | it | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 28 showed | obj |
| 30 | to | to | ADP | _ | 31 him | case |
| 31 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 28 showed | obl |
| 32 | asking | ask | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 28 showed | advcl |
| 33 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 32 asking | obj |
| 34 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 36 tell | advmod |
| 35 | to | to | PART | _ | 36 tell | mark |
| 36 | tell | tell | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 32 asking | xcomp |
| 37 | anyone | anyone | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Ind | 36 tell | obj |
| 38 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 41 thought | mark |
| 39 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 41 thought | nsubj |
| 40 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 41 thought | aux |
| 41 | thought | think | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 36 tell | advcl |
| 42 | of | of | ADP | _ | 44 plan | case |
| 43 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 44 plan | det |
| 44 | plan | plan | NOUN | Number=Sing | 41 thought | obl |
| 45 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 6 believe | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | not believe | could | Nkanyan's young brother's story | first Nkanyan | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer story=Stimulus | ||||
| 2 | bring | past | Amoru | man | the place | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent he=Theme to place=Destination | |||
| 3 | hide | past · perfect | Amoru | the meat | vn concealment-16-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent meat=Patient | ||||
| 4 | show | past | meat | Amoru | vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent it=Topic to he=Recipient | ||||
| 5 | ask speech: ask | gerund | Amoru | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S_INF»: agent=Agent he=Recipient clause=Topic | |||||
| 6 | not tell speech: assert not said to happen | to-infinitive | anyone | vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent anyone=Recipient | |||||
| 7 | think speech: other | past · perfect | Amoru | of a plan | vn focus-87.1-1 «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/pg70959/9/69/