---
title: One day Ogbaja’s mother Nara said she wished to go with him to gathe… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: One day Ogbaja’s mother Nara said she wished to go with him to gather some fruit, but he told her that she could not go, as the witches were dangerous men and might kill her. Who acts: mother, Ogbaja, witches. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xix.--why 
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xix.--why the Mist Rises From the Water., sentence 13

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One day Ogbaja’s mother Nara said she wished to go with him to gather some fruit, but he told her that she could not go, as the witches were dangerous men and might kill her.

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**Who acts:** mother, Ogbaja, witches · **What happens:** say, wish, go, gather, tell, not go · **To what, where:** fruit, mother · **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 (mother, Ogbaja, witches), 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:pg70959:14:13
# text = One day Ogbaja’s mother Nara said she wished to go with him to gather some fruit, but he told her that she could not go, as the witches were dangerous men and might kill her.
1	One	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	2	nummod	_	_
2	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl:unmarked	_	_
3	Ogbaja	Ogbaja	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	’s	's	PART	POS	_	3	case	_	_
5	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
6	Nara	Nara	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	appos	_	_
7	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
9	wished	wish	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	ccomp	_	_
10	to	to	PART	TO	_	11	mark	_	_
11	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	xcomp	_	_
12	with	with	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	obl	_	_
14	to	to	PART	TO	_	15	mark	_	_
15	gather	gather	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	advcl	_	_
16	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	17	det	_	_
17	fruit	fruit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
19	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
20	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
21	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
22	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	iobj	_	_
23	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	27	mark	_	_
24	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
25	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	27	aux	_	_
26	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	27	advmod	_	_
27	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
29	as	as	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	witches	witch	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	34	nsubj	_	_
32	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	34	cop	_	_
33	dangerous	dangerous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	34	amod	_	_
34	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	27	obl	_	_
35	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	37	cc	_	_
36	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	37	aux	_	_
37	kill	kill	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	27	conj	_	_
38	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	37	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Ogbaja's mother |  |  |  | day |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **wish** | past | mother |  |  |  |  |  | vn wish-62 «NP V for NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 3 | **go** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | mother *not said here* |  |  |  |  | with Ogbaja | vn help-72.1-2 «NP V PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent with he=Beneficiary |
| 4 | **gather** | to-infinitive | mother *not said here* | some fruit |  |  |  |  | vn deduce-97.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fruit=Theme |
| 5 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | Ogbaja |  | mother |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent she=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 6 | **not** **go** *not said to happen* | could | mother |  |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 7 | **is** | past | the witches |  |  |  |  | as dangerous men | tree rules |
| 8 | **kill** | might | mother *not said here* | mother |  |  |  |  | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent she=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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