---
title: When they returned at one o’clock to work, the boy who had spoken ab… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: When they returned at one o’clock to work, the boy who had spoken about the owl said, “Man done die for Okuni when them witch bird cry.” Who acts: sacrifices, boy, Man. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Opening, with its dependency tree and the pragmatic
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Opening, sentence 90

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When they returned at one o’clock to work, the boy who had spoken about the owl said, “Man done die for Okuni when them witch bird cry.”

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**Who acts:** sacrifices, boy, Man · **What happens:** return, work, speak, say, do, die · **To what, where:** one o’clock, bird cry · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (sacrifices, boy, Man), 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:pg70959:1:90
# text = When they returned at one o’clock to work, the boy who had spoken about the owl said, “Man done die for Okuni when them witch bird cry.”
1	When	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	3	advmod	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	returned	return	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	advcl	_	_
4	at	at	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	6	nummod	_	_
6	o’clock	o'clock	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	work	work	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nsubj	_	_
12	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	14	nsubj	_	_
13	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
14	spoken	speak	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	11	acl:relcl	_	_
15	about	about	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	owl	owl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	_
18	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
20	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	23	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	Man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	nsubj	_	_
22	done	do	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	23	amod	_	_
23	die	die	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	ccomp	_	_
24	for	for	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
25	Okuni	Okuni	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	23	nmod	_	_
26	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	28	advmod	_	_
27	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
28	witch	witch	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	23	advcl	_	_
29	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	compound	_	_
30	cry	cry	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	18	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	18	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **return** | past | sacrifices *= sacrifice* |  |  | one o’clock |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **work** | to-infinitive | sacrifices *= sacrifice* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn employment-95.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **speak** *speech: other* | past · perfect | the boy |  |  |  |  | about the owl | vn talk-37.5 «NP V PP.topic»: agent=Agent about owl=Topic |
| 4 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the boy |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **do** *in a quote* | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **die** *in a quote* |  | Man |  |  |  |  | for Okuni | tree rules |
| 7 | **witch** *in a quote* | present | sacrifices *= sacrifice* | bird cry |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

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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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