---
title: The boy told them how Oghabi had brought food for his people the pre… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: The boy told them how Oghabi had brought food for his people the previous night and that he was the only one who had not eaten any, and all the others had died soon after Oghabi left the house. Who acts: boy, people, OGHABI, only one. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphin
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xv.--what Happened At Okuni When Anyone Was Killed By Accident., sentence 52

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The boy told them how Oghabi had brought food for his people the previous night and that he was the only one who had not eaten any, and all the others had died soon after Oghabi left the house.

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**Who acts:** boy, people, OGHABI, only one, others · **What happens:** tell, bring, be, not eat, die, leave · **To what, where:** calabashes, Oghabi, only one, any, house · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xv.--what Happened At Okuni When Anyone Was Killed By Accident.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (boy, people, OGHABI, only one), 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:pg70959:12:52
# text = The boy told them how Oghabi had brought food for his people the previous night and that he was the only one who had not eaten any, and all the others had died soon after Oghabi left the house.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	iobj	_	_
5	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	8	advmod	_	_
6	Oghabi	Oghabi	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	nsubj:pass	_	_
7	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
8	brought	bring	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	ccomp	_	_
9	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
10	for	for	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	12	nmod:poss	_	_
12	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl:agent	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
14	previous	previous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl:unmarked	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
17	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
18	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
19	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	cop	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
21	only	only	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	amod	_	_
22	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	conj	_	_
23	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	26	nsubj	_	_
24	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	aux	_	_
25	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	26	advmod	_	_
26	eaten	eat	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	22	acl:relcl	_	_
27	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	26	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
29	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
30	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	32	det:predet	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	others	other	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	34	nsubj	_	_
33	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	34	aux	_	_
34	died	die	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	3	ccomp	_	_
35	soon	soon	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	34	advmod	_	_
36	after	after	SCONJ	IN	_	38	mark	_	_
37	Oghabi	Oghabi	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	38	nsubj	_	_
38	left	leave	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	34	advcl	_	_
39	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
40	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | the boy |  | calabashes *= calabash* |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent they=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 2 | **bring** | past · perfect · passive | OGHABI's people | Oghabi |  |  | night | food *obj* | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP NP»: agent=Agent subject=Destination food=Theme |
| 3 | **is a** | past | OGHABI | the only one |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **not** **eat** | past · perfect | the only one | any |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent any=Patient |
| 5 | **die** | past · perfect | all others |  |  |  |  | soon *property* | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |
| 6 | **leave** | past | Oghabi | the house |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent house=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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