Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xii.--concerning the Okuni Witches and Cannibalism., sentence 79
The chief then told the people to take the night calabash with them, and to bring Nkanyan out of his father’s house, but Amoru asked Elullo to lead the people, as he was the chief of the witches.
Who acts: chief, Amoru · What happens: tell, take, bring, ask, lead, be · To what, where: people, night calabash, Nkanyan, house, Elullo · 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 (chief, 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 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 2 chief | det |
| 2 | chief | chief | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 told | nsubj |
| 3 | then | then | ADV | PronType=Dem | 4 told | advmod |
| 4 | told | tell | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 5 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 6 people | det |
| 6 | people | people | NOUN | Number=Plur | 4 told | iobj |
| 7 | to | to | PART | _ | 8 take | mark |
| 8 | take | take | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 4 told | xcomp |
| 9 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 11 calabash | det |
| 10 | night | night | NOUN | Number=Sing | 11 calabash | compound |
| 11 | calabash | calabash | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 take | obj |
| 12 | with | with | ADP | _ | 13 them | case |
| 13 | them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 8 take | obl |
| 14 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 17 bring | punct |
| 15 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 17 bring | cc |
| 16 | to | to | PART | _ | 17 bring | mark |
| 17 | bring | bring | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 8 take | conj |
| 18 | Nkanyan | Nkanyan | PROPN | Number=Sing | 17 bring | obj |
| 19 | out | out | ADP | _ | 24 house | case |
| 20 | of | of | ADP | _ | 24 house | case |
| 21 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 22 father | nmod:poss |
| 22 | father | father | NOUN | Number=Sing | 24 house | nmod:poss |
| 23 | ’s | 's | PART | _ | 22 father | case |
| 24 | house | house | NOUN | Number=Sing | 17 bring | obl |
| 25 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 28 asked | punct |
| 26 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 28 asked | cc |
| 27 | Amoru | Amoru | PROPN | Number=Sing | 28 asked | nsubj |
| 28 | asked | ask | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 4 told | conj |
| 29 | Elullo | Elullo | PROPN | Number=Sing | 28 asked | iobj |
| 30 | to | to | PART | _ | 31 lead | mark |
| 31 | lead | lead | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 28 asked | xcomp |
| 32 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 33 people | det |
| 33 | people | people | NOUN | Number=Plur | 31 lead | obj |
| 34 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 39 chief | punct |
| 35 | as | as | ADP | _ | 39 chief | case |
| 36 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 39 chief | nsubj |
| 37 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 39 chief | cop |
| 38 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 39 chief | det |
| 39 | chief | chief | NOUN | Number=Sing | 31 lead | obl |
| 40 | of | of | ADP | _ | 42 witches | case |
| 41 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 42 witches | det |
| 42 | witches | witch | NOUN | Number=Plur | 39 chief | nmod |
| 43 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 4 told | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | tell speech: assert | past | the chief | the people | then | vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Agent people=Recipient clause=Topic | |||
| 2 | take not said to happen | to-infinitive | the chief not said here | the night calabash | with people | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent calabash=Theme | |||
| 3 | bring | to-infinitive | the chief not said here | Nkanyan | chief's father's house | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP PP.initial_location»: agent=Agent nkanyan=Theme out house=Initial_Location | |||
| 4 | ask speech: ask | past | Amoru | Elullo | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S_INF»: agent=Agent elullo=Recipient clause=Topic | ||||
| 5 | lead not said to happen | to-infinitive | Amoru not said here | the people | vn accompany-51.7 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent people=Theme | ||||
| 6 | is | past | Amoru | as the chief; of the witches | 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/pg70959/9/79/