---
title: The head slave washed the wounds on his wife’s back, and put some ma… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: The head slave washed the wounds on his wife’s back, and put some mashed-up leaves on the sore places to stop the bleeding and heal the cuts. Who acts: head slave. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., pa
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 3, sentence 15

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The head slave washed the wounds on his wife’s back, and put some mashed-up leaves on the sore places to stop the bleeding and heal the cuts.

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**Who acts:** head slave · **What happens:** wash, put, mash, stop, heal · **To what, where:** wounds, up leaves, sore places, bleeding, cuts

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This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (head slave), 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:pg70959:20:15
# text = The head slave washed the wounds on his wife’s back, and put some mashed-up leaves on the sore places to stop the bleeding and heal the cuts.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	slave	slave	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	washed	wash	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	wounds	wound	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
7	on	on	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	’s	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
11	back	back	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
14	put	put	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	10	parataxis	_	_
15	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	19	det	_	_
16	mashed	mash	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	18	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	16	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	up	up	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	compound	_	_
19	leaves	leaf	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	obj	_	_
20	on	on	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
22	sore	sore	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
23	places	place	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	obl	_	_
24	to	to	PART	TO	_	25	mark	_	_
25	stop	stop	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	advcl	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	bleeding	bleeding	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obj	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
29	heal	heal	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	25	conj	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	cuts	cut	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **wash** | past | the head slave | the wounds |  |  |  |  | vn floss-41.2.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wound=Patient |
| 2 | **put** | infinitive |  | some up leaves |  | the sore places |  |  | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V PP.destination NP»: agent=Agent leaf=Theme on place=Destination |
| 3 | **mash** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn carve-21.2-1 «NP V ADVP-Middle»: agent=Patient |
| 4 | **stop** | to-infinitive |  | the bleeding |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: agent=Subeventuality bleeding=Eventuality |
| 5 | **heal** | infinitive |  | the cuts |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent cut=Patient |

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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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