---
title: Whenever a chief died several slaves were killed and buried with him… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: Whenever a chief died several slaves were killed and buried with him, and it was no uncommon thing for a whole family to accuse another family of witchcraft. Who acts: chief, slave. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Opening, with its dependency tree and 
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Opening, sentence 80

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Whenever a chief died several slaves were killed and buried with him, and it was no uncommon thing for a whole family to accuse another family of witchcraft.

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**Who acts:** chief, slave · **What happens:** die, kill, bury, be, accuse · **To what, where:** several slaves, uncommon thing, family

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This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Opening. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (chief, slave), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg70959:1:80
# text = Whenever a chief died several slaves were killed and buried with him, and it was no uncommon thing for a whole family to accuse another family of witchcraft.
1	Whenever	whenever	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	4	advmod	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	chief	chief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	died	die	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	several	several	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	slaves	slave	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj:pass	_	_
7	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux:pass	_	_
8	killed	kill	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	ccomp	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	buried	bury	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	conj	_	_
11	with	with	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
15	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
16	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	cop	_	_
17	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	19	det	_	_
18	uncommon	uncommon	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
19	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
20	for	for	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
21	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
22	whole	whole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
23	family	family	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nmod	_	_
24	to	to	PART	TO	_	25	mark	_	_
25	accuse	accuse	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	advcl	_	_
26	another	another	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	27	det	_	_
27	family	family	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obj	_	_
28	of	of	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
29	witchcraft	witchcraft	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **die** | past | a chief |  |  |  |  | whenever *property* | vn long-32.2 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 2 | **kill** | past · passive |  | several slaves |  |  |  |  | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 3 | **bury** | participle |  |  |  |  |  | with man | vn put-9.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **is a** | past | slave | no uncommon thing |  |  |  | for a whole family | tree rules |
| 5 | **accuse** | to-infinitive | a chief *not said here* | another family of witchcraft |  |  |  |  | vn suspect-81 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Agent family=Theme |

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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.

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**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.

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