Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xii.--concerning the Okuni Witches and Cannibalism., sentence 71
He was to arm himself with a matchet, and when he heard the witches coming he was to stand at the head of his bed with the matchet in his hand and his arm raised ready to strike.
Who acts: Amoru, witches, arm · What happens: be, hear, come, raise, strike · To what, where: arm, witches, head
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, arm), 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 | He | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 4 arm | nsubj |
| 2 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 4 arm | cop |
| 3 | to | to | PART | _ | 4 arm | mark |
| 4 | arm | arm | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 5 | himself | himself | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Emp Reflex=Yes | 4 arm | nmod:unmarked |
| 6 | with | with | ADP | _ | 8 matchet | case |
| 7 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 8 matchet | det |
| 8 | matchet | matchet | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 arm | nmod |
| 9 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 13 heard | punct |
| 10 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 13 heard | cc |
| 11 | when | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 13 heard | advmod |
| 12 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 13 heard | nsubj |
| 13 | heard | hear | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 4 arm | conj |
| 14 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 15 witches | det |
| 15 | witches | witch | NOUN | Number=Plur | 13 heard | obj |
| 16 | coming | come | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 13 heard | xcomp |
| 17 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 20 stand | nsubj |
| 18 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 20 stand | cop |
| 19 | to | to | PART | _ | 20 stand | mark |
| 20 | stand | stand | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 16 coming | ccomp |
| 21 | at | at | ADP | _ | 23 head | case |
| 22 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 23 head | det |
| 23 | head | head | NOUN | Number=Sing | 20 stand | obl |
| 24 | of | of | ADP | _ | 26 bed | case |
| 25 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 26 bed | nmod:poss |
| 26 | bed | bed | NOUN | Number=Sing | 23 head | nmod |
| 27 | with | with | ADP | _ | 29 matchet | case |
| 28 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 29 matchet | det |
| 29 | matchet | matchet | NOUN | Number=Sing | 20 stand | obl |
| 30 | in | in | ADP | _ | 32 hand | case |
| 31 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 32 hand | nmod:poss |
| 32 | hand | hand | NOUN | Number=Sing | 20 stand | obl |
| 33 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 36 raised | cc |
| 34 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 35 arm | nmod:poss |
| 35 | arm | arm | NOUN | Number=Sing | 36 raised | nsubj |
| 36 | raised | raise | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 20 stand | conj |
| 37 | ready | ready | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 36 raised | xcomp |
| 38 | to | to | PART | _ | 39 strike | mark |
| 39 | strike | strike | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 37 ready | xcomp |
| 40 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 4 arm | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is a | past | Amoru | arm | with a matchet; Amoru nmod:unmarked | tree rules | |||
| 2 | hear | past | Amoru | the witches | tree rules | ||||
| 3 | come | gerund | the witches not said here | tree rules | |||||
| 4 | is | past | Amoru | the head of Amoru's bed | with the matchet; in Amoru's hand; stand property | tree rules | |||
| 5 | raise | past | Amoru's arm | ready property | vn put_direction-9.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 6 | strike | to-infinitive | Amoru's arm not said here | vn sound_emission-43.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
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/pg70959/9/71/