---
title: When the day was about to break, and there was no message from any o… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: When the day was about to break, and there was no message from any of his people, Chief Alankor became thoroughly frightened, and called the rest of his slaves together, and having armed them with bows and arrows to protect themselves, he sent them off after the others and warned them to be very car
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xv.--what Happened At Okuni When Anyone Was Killed By Accident., sentence 89

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When the day was about to break, and there was no message from any of his people, Chief Alankor became thoroughly frightened, and called the rest of his slaves together, and having armed them with bows and arrows to protect themselves, he sent them off after the others and warned them to be very careful how they went.

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**Who acts:** day, message, Chief, slaves · **What happens:** be, break, become, frighten, call, have · **To what, where:** rest, slaves · **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 (day, message, Chief, slaves), 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:pg70959:12:90
# text = When the day was about to break, and there was no message from any of his people, Chief Alankor became thoroughly frightened, and called the rest of his slaves together, and having armed them with bows and arrows to protect themselves, he sent them off after the others and warned them to be very careful how they went.
1	When	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	5	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
5	about	about	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	break	break	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
10	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	11	expl	_	_
11	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
12	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	13	det	_	_
13	message	message	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
14	from	from	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	13	nmod	_	_
16	of	of	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	18	nmod:poss	_	_
18	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
20	Chief	Chief	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	22	nsubj	_	_
21	Alankor	Alankor	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	20	flat	_	_
22	became	become	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	parataxis	_	_
23	thoroughly	thoroughly	ADV	RB	_	24	advmod	_	_
24	frightened	frighten	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	22	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
27	called	call	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	conj	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	rest	rest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obj	_	_
30	of	of	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	32	nmod:poss	_	_
32	slaves	slave	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	nmod	_	_
33	together	together	ADV	RB	_	27	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
35	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
36	having	have	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	27	advcl	_	_
37	armed	armed	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	36	xcomp	_	_
38	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	37	obj	_	_
39	with	with	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
40	bows	bow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	36	obl	_	_
41	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	42	cc	_	_
42	arrows	arrow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	40	conj	_	_
43	to	to	PART	TO	_	44	mark	_	_
44	protect	protect	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	36	advcl	_	_
45	themselves	themselves	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	44	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	48	punct	_	_
47	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	48	nsubj	_	_
48	sent	send	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	conj	_	_
49	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	48	obj	_	_
50	off	off	ADP	RP	_	48	compound:prt	_	_
51	after	after	ADP	IN	_	53	case	_	_
52	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	53	det	_	_
53	others	other	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	48	obl	_	_
54	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	55	cc	_	_
55	warned	warn	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	conj	_	_
56	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	55	obj	_	_
57	to	to	PART	TO	_	60	mark	_	_
58	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	60	cop	_	_
59	very	very	ADV	RB	_	60	advmod	_	_
60	careful	careful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	55	ccomp	_	_
61	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	63	advmod	_	_
62	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	63	nsubj	_	_
63	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	60	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
64	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the day |  |  |  |  | about *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **break** | to-infinitive | the day *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Patient |
| 3 | **be** | past | no message from any of message's people |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **become** | past | Chief |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **frighten** | participle | Chief *not said here* |  |  |  |  | thoroughly *property* | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer |
| 6 | **call** | past | Chief *not said here* | the rest of message's slaves |  |  |  | together *property* | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent rest=Recipient |
| 7 | **have** | gerund | Chief *not said here* |  |  |  |  | with bows and arrows; armed *property* | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 8 | **protect** | to-infinitive | Chief *not said here* | slaves *= slave* |  |  |  |  | vn defend-72.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent themselves=Beneficiary |
| 9 | **send off** | past | message | slaves *= slave* |  |  | after the others |  | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Theme |
| 10 | **warn** *speech: warn* | past | Chief *not said here* |  | slaves *= slave* |  |  |  | vn advise-37.9-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent they=Recipient |
| 11 | **is** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | careful *property* | tree rules |
| 12 | **go** | past | slaves *= slave* |  |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=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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