---
title: The chief then begged his wife to go back with the other people to t… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: The chief then begged his wife to go back with the other people to the town as he was afraid of the ju-ju man. Who acts: chief. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xiii.--of Chief Amaza, His Wife Achi and the Tortoise., with its dependency tree and the pra
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xiii.--of Chief Amaza, His Wife Achi and the Tortoise., sentence 12

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The chief then begged his wife to go back with the other people to the town as he was afraid of the ju-ju man.

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**Who acts:** chief · **What happens:** beg, go back, be · **To what, where:** wife

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This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xiii.--of Chief Amaza, His Wife Achi and the Tortoise.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (chief), 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:pg70959:10:12
# text = The chief then begged his wife to go back with the other people to the town as he was afraid of the ju-ju man.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	chief	chief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	4	advmod	_	_
4	begged	beg	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	xcomp	_	_
9	back	back	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
10	with	with	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
12	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	_
14	to	to	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	town	town	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
17	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	20	mark	_	_
18	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
19	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	cop	_	_
20	afraid	afraid	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	advcl	_	_
21	of	of	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
23	ju	ju	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	23	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	ju	ju	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	compound	_	_
26	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **beg** *speech: request* | past | the chief |  | Chief's wife |  | then |  | vn beg-58.2-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent wife=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 2 | **go back** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the chief *not said here* |  |  |  |  | with the other people; to the town *result* | vn convert-26.6.2 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Patient to town=Result |
| 3 | **is** | past | Chief |  |  |  |  | of the ju man; afraid *property* | 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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