---
title: She then asked some of the people why they did not go back home; so… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: She then asked some of the people why they did not go back home; so they told her that the only way was to climb up and cut the heart and liver out of the drum, but they could not do that as they had no matchets or knives. Who acts: way, people, only way. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southe
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xix.--why the Mist Rises From the Water., sentence 103

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She then asked some of the people why they did not go back home; so they told her that the only way was to climb up and cut the heart and liver out of the drum, but they could not do that as they had no matchets or knives.

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**Who acts:** way, people, only way · **What happens:** ask, not go back, tell, be, cut, not do · **To what, where:** way, heart, drum, that, matchets · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xix.--why the Mist Rises From the Water.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (way, people, only way), 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:pg70959:14:103
# text = She then asked some of the people why they did not go back home; so they told her that the only way was to climb up and cut the heart and liver out of the drum, but they could not do that as they had no matchets or knives.
1	She	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	3	advmod	_	_
3	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	8	nsubj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nmod	_	_
8	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	3	parataxis	_	_
9	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
10	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
11	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	12	advmod	_	_
12	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	ccomp	_	_
13	back	back	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
14	home	home	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
16	so	so	ADV	RB	_	18	advmod	_	_
17	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
18	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
19	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	iobj	_	_
20	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	26	mark	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
22	only	only	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
23	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	nsubj	_	_
24	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	cop	_	_
25	to	to	PART	TO	_	26	mark	_	_
26	climb	climb	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	xcomp	_	_
27	up	up	ADP	RP	_	26	compound:prt	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
29	cut	cut	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	26	conj	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	heart	heart	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obj	_	_
32	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	33	cc	_	_
33	liver	liver	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	conj	_	_
34	out	out	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
35	of	of	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
36	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
37	drum	drum	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	43	punct	_	_
39	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	43	cc	_	_
40	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	43	nsubj	_	_
41	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	43	aux	_	_
42	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	43	advmod	_	_
43	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	conj	_	_
44	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	43	obj	_	_
45	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	47	mark	_	_
46	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	47	nsubj	_	_
47	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	43	advcl	_	_
48	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	49	det	_	_
49	matchets	matchet	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	47	obj	_	_
50	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	51	cc	_	_
51	knives	knife	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	49	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | way |  |  |  | then |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **not** **go back** | past · do-support | people |  |  |  |  | home *property* | vn convert-26.6.2 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Patient |
| 3 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | people |  | way |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent she=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 4 | **is** *not said to happen* | past | the only way |  |  |  |  | climb *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **cut** | infinitive | the only way *not said here* | the heart and liver |  | the drum |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset heart=Product |
| 6 | **not** **do** | could | people | that |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent that=Eventuality |
| 7 | **have** | past | people | no matchets or knives |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent matchet=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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