---
title: But the chief replied, “You said that it was the proper custom to bu… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: But the chief replied, “You said that it was the proper custom to bury dead bodies in sleeping-mats, so we took yours to bury the dead slave in. Who acts: chief, You, we. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxi.--why the Head of the Male Goat Smells So Str
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxi.--why the Head of the Male Goat Smells So Strong., sentence 43

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But the chief replied, “You said that it was the proper custom to bury dead bodies in sleeping-mats, so we took yours to bury the dead slave in.

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**Who acts:** chief, You, we · **What happens:** reply, say, be, bury, take · **To what, where:** proper custom, dead bodies, sleeping mats, yours, dead slave · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxi.--why the Head of the Male Goat Smells So Strong.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (chief, You, we), 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:pg70959:15:43
# text = But the chief replied, “You said that it was the proper custom to bury dead bodies in sleeping-mats, so we took yours to bury the dead slave in.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	chief	chief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	replied	reply	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
6	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	You	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
8	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
9	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
10	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
11	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	cop	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
13	proper	proper	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	custom	custom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	ccomp	_	_
15	to	to	PART	TO	_	16	mark	_	_
16	bury	bury	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	acl	_	_
17	dead	dead	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	bodies	body	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	obj	_	_
19	in	in	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
20	sleeping	sleeping	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	20	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	mats	mat	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
24	so	so	ADV	RB	_	26	advmod	_	_
25	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
26	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
27	yours	your	PRON	PRP	Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	26	obj	_	_
28	to	to	PART	TO	_	29	mark	_	_
29	bury	bury	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	26	advcl	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
31	dead	dead	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	32	amod	_	_
32	slave	slave	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obj	_	_
33	in	in	ADV	RB	_	29	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **reply** *speech: assert* | past | the chief |  |  |  |  |  | vn respond-113 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | past | You |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **is a** *in a quote* | past | chief | the proper custom |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **bury** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | You *not said here* | dead bodies |  | sleeping mats |  |  | vn put-9.1-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent body=Theme in mat=Destination |
| 5 | **take** *in a quote* | past | we | yours |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent your=Theme |
| 6 | **bury** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | we *not said here* | the dead slave |  |  |  |  | vn put-9.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent slave=Theme |

<!-- .note -->
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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