---
title: The chief then sent word all round the towns that as Okpa and his fa… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: The chief then sent word all round the towns that as Okpa and his family had been poisoned, for the future whenever anyone gave another person tombo, foo-foo, palm oil chop, or anything else to eat or drink, they must first partake of it themselves, to show that it was not poisoned. Who acts: chief,
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xv.--what Happened At Okuni When Anyone Was Killed By Accident., sentence 58

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The chief then sent word all round the towns that as Okpa and his family had been poisoned, for the future whenever anyone gave another person tombo, foo-foo, palm oil chop, or anything else to eat or drink, they must first partake of it themselves, to show that it was not poisoned.

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**Who acts:** chief, anyone, chop · **What happens:** send, poison, give, eat, drink, partake · **To what, where:** word, towns, person tombo, chop, tombo · **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 (chief, anyone, chop), 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:pg70959:12:58
# text = The chief then sent word all round the towns that as Okpa and his family had been poisoned, for the future whenever anyone gave another person tombo, foo-foo, palm oil chop, or anything else to eat or drink, they must first partake of it themselves, to show that it was not poisoned.
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	sent	send	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
6	all	all	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
7	round	round	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	towns	town	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	_
10	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	18	obj	_	_
11	as	as	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	Okpa	Okpa	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
14	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	15	nmod:poss	_	_
15	family	family	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	conj	_	_
16	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
17	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	18	aux:pass	_	_
18	poisoned	poison	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	9	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
20	for	for	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	future	future	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	_
23	whenever	whenever	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	25	advmod	_	_
24	anyone	anyone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	25	nsubj	_	_
25	gave	give	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	advcl	_	_
26	another	another	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	28	det	_	_
27	person	person	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	compound	_	_
28	tombo	tombo	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
30	foo	foo	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	30	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	foo	foo	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
34	palm	palm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	compound	_	_
35	oil	oil	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	compound	_	_
36	chop	chop	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	39	punct	_	_
38	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	39	cc	_	_
39	anything	anything	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	25	obj	_	_
40	else	else	ADV	RB	_	39	advmod	_	_
41	to	to	PART	TO	_	42	mark	_	_
42	eat	eat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	39	acl	_	_
43	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	44	cc	_	_
44	drink	drink	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	42	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	49	punct	_	_
46	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	49	nsubj	_	_
47	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	49	aux	_	_
48	first	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	49	advmod	_	_
49	partake	partake	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	parataxis	_	_
50	of	of	ADP	IN	_	51	case	_	_
51	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	49	obl	_	_
52	themselves	themselves	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Emp|Reflex=Yes	49	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	55	punct	_	_
54	to	to	PART	TO	_	55	mark	_	_
55	show	show	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	49	conj	_	_
56	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	60	mark	_	_
57	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	60	nsubj:pass	_	_
58	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	60	aux:pass	_	_
59	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	60	advmod	_	_
60	poisoned	poison	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	55	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
61	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **send** | past | the chief | word |  |  | then | round the towns | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent word=Theme |
| 2 | **poison** | past · perfect · passive |  | the towns |  |  |  | as Okpa and OKPA's family; for the future | vn poison-42.2 «NP V NP»: that=Patient |
| 3 | **give** | past | anyone | another person tombo and foo foo and palm oil chop |  |  |  | anything *obj*; whenever *property* | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent tombo=Recipient anything=Theme |
| 4 | **eat** | to-infinitive | anyone *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **drink** | infinitive | anyone *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **partake** | must | chop | chop |  |  |  | of foo; first *property* | tree rules |
| 7 | **show** | to-infinitive | chop *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 8 | **not** **poison** | past · passive |  | tombo |  |  |  |  | vn poison-42.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |

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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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