Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xii.--concerning the Okuni Witches and Cannibalism., sentence 92
Nkanyan also told the chiefs and people how the witches had come to kill him, but he had broken their ju-ju calabash and turned the night into day, when all the naked witches were caught.
Who acts: Nkanyan, witches · What happens: tell, come, kill, break, turn, catch · To what, where: chiefs, chief, ju calabash, naked witches · 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 (Nkanyan, witches), 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 | Nkanyan | Nkanyan | PROPN | Number=Sing | 3 told | nsubj |
| 2 | also | also | ADV | _ | 3 told | advmod |
| 3 | told | tell | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 4 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 5 chiefs | det |
| 5 | chiefs | chief | NOUN | Number=Plur | 3 told | iobj |
| 6 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 7 people | cc |
| 7 | people | people | NOUN | Number=Plur | 5 chiefs | conj |
| 8 | how | how | ADV | PronType=Int | 12 come | advmod |
| 9 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 10 witches | det |
| 10 | witches | witch | NOUN | Number=Plur | 12 come | nsubj |
| 11 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 12 come | aux |
| 12 | come | come | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 3 told | ccomp |
| 13 | to | to | PART | _ | 14 kill | mark |
| 14 | kill | kill | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 12 come | xcomp |
| 15 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 14 kill | obj |
| 16 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 20 broken | punct |
| 17 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 20 broken | cc |
| 18 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 20 broken | nsubj |
| 19 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 20 broken | aux |
| 20 | broken | break | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 3 told | parataxis |
| 21 | their | their | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 25 calabash | nmod:poss |
| 22 | ju | ju | NOUN | Number=Sing | 24 ju | compound |
| 23 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 22 ju | punct |
| 24 | ju | ju | NOUN | Number=Sing | 25 calabash | compound |
| 25 | calabash | calabash | NOUN | Number=Sing | 20 broken | obj |
| 26 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 27 turned | cc |
| 27 | turned | turn | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 20 broken | conj |
| 28 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 29 night | det |
| 29 | night | night | NOUN | Number=Sing | 27 turned | obl:unmarked |
| 30 | into | into | ADP | _ | 31 day | case |
| 31 | day | day | NOUN | Number=Sing | 27 turned | obl |
| 32 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 39 caught | punct |
| 33 | when | when | SCONJ | _ | 39 caught | mark |
| 34 | all | all | DET | PronType=Tot | 37 witches | det:predet |
| 35 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 37 witches | det |
| 36 | naked | naked | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 37 witches | amod |
| 37 | witches | witch | NOUN | Number=Plur | 39 caught | nsubj:pass |
| 38 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 39 caught | aux:pass |
| 39 | caught | catch | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 20 broken | conj |
| 40 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 3 told | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | tell speech: assert | past | Nkanyan | the chiefs and people | vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP what S»: agent=Agent chief=Recipient clause=Topic | ||||
| 2 | come | past · perfect | the witches | tree rules | |||||
| 3 | kill | to-infinitive | the witches not said here | chief | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme | ||||
| 4 | break | past · perfect | Nkanyan | people's ju calabash | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer calabash=Patient | ||||
| 5 | turn | past | Nkanyan not said here | day; night | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 6 | catch | past · passive | all naked witches | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: subject=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/pg70959/9/92/