---
title: When Ogbaja returned to the mango tree after his hunting to take his… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: When Ogbaja returned to the mango tree after his hunting to take his mother home, he could not find her, but on looking about on the ground he saw the bloodstains where his mother’s body had been cut up, and at once knew that she must have been killed by the witches. Who acts: Ogbaja, witches. A sen
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xix.--why the Mist Rises From the Water., sentence 32

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When Ogbaja returned to the mango tree after his hunting to take his mother home, he could not find her, but on looking about on the ground he saw the bloodstains where his mother’s body had been cut up, and at once knew that she must have been killed by the witches.

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**Who acts:** Ogbaja, witches · **What happens:** return, take, not find, look, see, cut up · **To what, where:** mother, bloodstains, body · **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 (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:pg70959:14:32
# text = When Ogbaja returned to the mango tree after his hunting to take his mother home, he could not find her, but on looking about on the ground he saw the bloodstains where his mother’s body had been cut up, and at once knew that she must have been killed by the witches.
1	When	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	3	advmod	_	_
2	Ogbaja	Ogbaja	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	returned	return	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	advcl	_	_
4	to	to	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	mango	mango	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
8	after	after	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	10	nmod:poss	_	_
10	hunting	hunting	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
11	to	to	PART	TO	_	12	mark	_	_
12	take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	advcl	_	_
13	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	14	nmod:poss	_	_
14	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	_
15	home	home	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
17	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
18	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	20	aux	_	_
19	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	20	advmod	_	_
20	find	find	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
21	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
23	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
24	on	on	SCONJ	IN	_	25	mark	_	_
25	looking	look	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	31	advcl	_	_
26	about	about	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	_
27	on	on	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	_
30	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
31	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	ccomp	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	bloodstains	bloodstain	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	31	obj	_	_
34	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	41	advmod	_	_
35	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	36	nmod:poss	_	_
36	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	’s	's	PART	POS	_	36	case	_	_
38	body	body	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	nsubj:pass	_	_
39	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	41	aux	_	_
40	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	41	aux:pass	_	_
41	cut	cut	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	33	acl:relcl	_	_
42	up	up	ADP	RP	_	41	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	47	punct	_	_
44	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	47	cc	_	_
45	at	at	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
46	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	47	obl	_	_
47	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	parataxis	_	_
48	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	53	mark	_	_
49	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	53	nsubj:pass	_	_
50	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	53	aux	_	_
51	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	53	aux	_	_
52	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	53	aux:pass	_	_
53	killed	kill	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	47	ccomp	_	_
54	by	by	ADP	IN	_	56	case	_	_
55	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	56	det	_	_
56	witches	witch	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	53	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
57	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	20	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **return** | past | Ogbaja |  |  |  | after Ogbaja's hunting | to the mango tree *result* | vn convert-26.6.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Patient to tree=Result |
| 2 | **take** | to-infinitive | Ogbaja *not said here* |  | Ogbaja's mother |  |  | home *property* | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP ADVP»: agent=Instrument mother=Destination |
| 3 | **not** **find** | could | Ogbaja | mother |  |  |  |  | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Agent she=Attribute clause=Theme |
| 4 | **look** | gerund | Ogbaja *not said here* |  |  |  |  | on the ground; about *property* | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent on ground=Theme |
| 5 | **see** | past | Ogbaja | the bloodstains |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer bloodstain=Stimulus |
| 6 | **cut up** | past · perfect · passive |  | Ogbaja's mother's body |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: subject=Product |
| 7 | **know** | past |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 8 | **kill** | must · perfect · passive | the witches | mother |  |  |  |  | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme |
| 9 | **hunt** |  | Ogbaja |  |  |  |  |  | nom hunting «act transitive»: poss=agent |

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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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