---
title: Chief Oga then implored ’Nyambi not to tell any of the young men of… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: Chief Oga then implored ’Nyambi not to tell any of the young men of the town what he had done to him, and begged him to keep it secret until the day of his death. ’ Who acts: Chief, Nyambi. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxiii.--why Edidor Killed Her 
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxiii.--why Edidor Killed Her Husband and Her Lover., sentence 119

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Chief Oga then implored ’Nyambi not to tell any of the young men of the town what he had done to him, and begged him to keep it secret until the day of his death. ’

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**Who acts:** Chief, Nyambi · **What happens:** implore, not tell, do, beg, keep, die · **To what, where:** any, NYAMBI, chief, injury · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxiii.--why Edidor Killed Her Husband and Her Lover.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Chief, Nyambi), 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:pg70959:17:119
# text = Chief Oga then implored ’Nyambi not to tell any of the young men of the town what he had done to him, and begged him to keep it secret until the day of his death. ’
1	Chief	Chief	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
2	Oga	Oga	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	1	flat	_	_
3	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	4	advmod	_	_
4	implored	implore	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	’	'	PUNCT	``	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	Nyambi	Nyambi	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
7	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	9	advmod	_	_
8	to	to	PART	TO	_	9	mark	_	_
9	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	conj	_	_
10	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	9	obj	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
13	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	nmod	_	_
15	of	of	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	town	town	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nmod	_	_
18	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	21	obj	_	_
19	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
20	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	_
21	done	do	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	9	ccomp	_	_
22	to	to	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
23	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
26	begged	beg	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
27	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	obj	_	_
28	to	to	PART	TO	_	29	mark	_	_
29	keep	keep	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	26	xcomp	_	_
30	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	obj	_	_
31	secret	secret	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	xcomp	_	_
32	until	until	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	_
35	of	of	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
36	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	37	nmod:poss	_	_
37	death	death	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
39	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **implore** | past | Chief |  |  |  | then |  | vn urge-58.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **not** **tell** *speech: assert* | to-infinitive | Nyambi | any of the young men of the town |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP what S»: agent=Agent any=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 3 | **do** | past · perfect | chief |  | NYAMBI |  |  | what *obj* | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Eventuality |
| 4 | **beg** *speech: request* | past | Chief *not said here* |  | chief |  |  |  | vn beg-58.2-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent he=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 5 | **keep** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | Chief *not said here* | injury |  |  | day | secret *property* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme |
| 6 | **die** |  | chief |  |  |  |  |  | nom death «event intransitive»: 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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