Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xii.--concerning the Okuni Witches and Cannibalism., sentence 81
Then the man presented the “night” calabash towards Nkanyan three times, but as he held it out for the third time, Nkanyan hit it with his matchet and smashed it to pieces with one blow.
Who acts: man, Nkanyan · What happens: present, hold out, hit, smash · To what, where: night calabash, way
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 (man, Nkanyan), 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 | Then | then | ADV | PronType=Dem | 4 presented | advmod |
| 2 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 3 man | det |
| 3 | man | man | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 presented | nsubj |
| 4 | presented | present | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 5 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 9 calabash | det |
| 6 | “ | " | PUNCT | _ | 7 night | punct |
| 7 | night | night | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 calabash | compound |
| 8 | ” | " | PUNCT | _ | 7 night | punct |
| 9 | calabash | calabash | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 presented | obj |
| 10 | towards | towards | ADP | _ | 11 Nkanyan | case |
| 11 | Nkanyan | Nkanyan | PROPN | Number=Sing | 4 presented | obl |
| 12 | three | three | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 13 times | nummod |
| 13 | times | time | NOUN | Number=Plur | 4 presented | obl:unmarked |
| 14 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 27 hit | punct |
| 15 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 27 hit | cc |
| 16 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 18 held | mark |
| 17 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 18 held | nsubj |
| 18 | held | hold | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 27 hit | advcl |
| 19 | it | it | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 18 held | obj |
| 20 | out | out | ADP | _ | 18 held | compound:prt |
| 21 | for | for | ADP | _ | 24 time | case |
| 22 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 24 time | det |
| 23 | third | third | ADJ | Degree=Pos NumForm=Word NumType=Ord | 24 time | amod |
| 24 | time | time | NOUN | Number=Sing | 18 held | obl |
| 25 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 18 held | punct |
| 26 | Nkanyan | Nkanyan | PROPN | Number=Sing | 27 hit | nsubj |
| 27 | hit | hit | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 4 presented | parataxis |
| 28 | it | it | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 27 hit | obj |
| 29 | with | with | ADP | _ | 31 matchet | case |
| 30 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 31 matchet | nmod:poss |
| 31 | matchet | matchet | NOUN | Number=Sing | 27 hit | obl |
| 32 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 33 smashed | cc |
| 33 | smashed | smash | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 27 hit | conj |
| 34 | it | it | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 33 smashed | obj |
| 35 | to | to | ADP | _ | 36 pieces | case |
| 36 | pieces | piece | NOUN | Number=Plur | 33 smashed | obl |
| 37 | with | with | ADP | _ | 39 blow | case |
| 38 | one | one | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 39 blow | nummod |
| 39 | blow | blow | NOUN | Number=Sing | 33 smashed | obl |
| 40 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 4 presented | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | present | past | the man | the night calabash | then; time | towards Nkanyan | vn fulfilling-13.4.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent calabash=Theme | ||
| 2 | hold out | past | Nkanyan | way | time | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme | |||
| 3 | hit | past | Nkanyan | way | with Nkanyan's matchet | vn hit-18.1-1 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent it=Patient with matchet=Instrument | |||
| 4 | smash | past | Nkanyan not said here | way | to pieces result; with one blow | vn hit-18.1-1 «NP V NP PP.result PP.instrument»: agent=Agent it=Patient to piece=Result with blow=Instrument |
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/pg70959/9/81/