---
title: The chief’s wound took many days to heal, and at night, when his wiv… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: The chief’s wound took many days to heal, and at night, when his wives came to him, he had to send them away, saying he was not well. Who acts: wound, wives, chief. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxiii.--why Edidor Killed Her Husband and Her Lover., w
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxiii.--why Edidor Killed Her Husband and Her Lover., sentence 121

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The chief’s wound took many days to heal, and at night, when his wives came to him, he had to send them away, saying he was not well.

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**Who acts:** wound, wives, chief · **What happens:** take, heal, come, have, send away, say · **To what, where:** chief, wives · **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 (wound, wives, chief), 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:pg70959:17:121
# text = The chief’s wound took many days to heal, and at night, when his wives came to him, he had to send them away, saying he was not well.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	chief	chief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	’s	's	PART	POS	_	2	case	_	_
4	wound	wound	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	days	day	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obj	_	_
8	to	to	PART	TO	_	9	mark	_	_
9	heal	heal	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
12	at	at	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
15	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	18	mark	_	_
16	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	17	nmod:poss	_	_
17	wives	wife	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	nsubj	_	_
18	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
19	to	to	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
20	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
22	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
23	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	conj	_	_
24	to	to	PART	TO	_	25	mark	_	_
25	send	send	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	xcomp	_	_
26	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	obj	_	_
27	away	away	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
29	saying	say	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	25	advcl	_	_
30	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	nsubj	_	_
31	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	33	cop	_	_
32	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	33	advmod	_	_
33	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	29	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **take** | past | the chief's wound |  |  |  | day |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **heal** | to-infinitive | the chief's wound *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 3 | **come** | past | chief's wives |  | chief |  | night |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to he=Initial\_Location |
| 4 | **have** | past | wound |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **send away** | to-infinitive | wound *not said here* | wives *= wife* |  |  |  | away *property* | vn fire-10.10 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Theme |
| 6 | **say** *speech: assert* | gerund | wound *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **not** **is** | past | wound |  |  |  |  | well *property* | tree rules |
| 8 | **wound** |  | the chief |  |  |  |  |  | nom wound «state transitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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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