---
title: When they were fast asleep, they would be covered up with dry palm l… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: When they were fast asleep, they would be covered up with dry palm leaves and then burnt to death. Who acts: witches. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xix.--why the Mist Rises From the Water., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xix.--why the Mist Rises From the Water., sentence 46

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When they were fast asleep, they would be covered up with dry palm leaves and then burnt to death.

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**Who acts:** witches · **What happens:** be, cover up · **To what, where:** witches

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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 (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:pg70959:14:46
# text = When they were fast asleep, they would be covered up with dry palm leaves and then burnt to death.
1	When	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	5	mark	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
3	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	fast	fast	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	5	advmod	_	_
5	asleep	asleep	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
7	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj:pass	_	_
8	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
9	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	aux:pass	_	_
10	covered	cover	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
11	up	up	ADP	RP	_	10	compound:prt	_	_
12	with	with	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
13	dry	dry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
14	palm	palm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	compound	_	_
15	leaves	leaf	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obl	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
17	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	18	advmod	_	_
18	burnt	burnt	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	conj	_	_
19	to	to	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
20	death	death	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | witches *= witch* |  |  |  |  | asleep, fast *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **cover up** | would · passive |  | witches *= witch* |  |  |  | with dry palm leaves | vn fill-9.8-1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: subject=Destination with leaf=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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