---
title: When the head slave came, he said to Chief Erim, “I have been your s… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: When the head slave came, he said to Chief Erim, “I have been your slave ever since I was a small boy. Who acts: head slave, ju. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 3, with its dependency tree and 
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 3, sentence 28

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When the head slave came, he said to Chief Erim, “I have been your slave ever since I was a small boy.

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**Who acts:** head slave, ju · **What happens:** come, say, be · **To what, where:** Chief, slave, small boy · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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, ju), 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:pg70959:20:28
# text = When the head slave came, he said to Chief Erim, “I have been your slave ever since I was a small boy.
1	When	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	5	mark	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	_
4	slave	slave	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
7	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
8	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	to	to	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	Chief	Chief	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
11	Erim	Erim	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	flat	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
13	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	18	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
15	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
16	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	18	cop	_	_
17	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	18	nmod:poss	_	_
18	slave	slave	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	conj	_	_
19	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	18	advmod	_	_
20	since	since	SCONJ	IN	_	25	mark	_	_
21	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
22	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	cop	_	_
23	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
24	small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	amod	_	_
25	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come** | past | the head slave |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | ju |  | Chief and your slave |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to chief=Recipient |
| 3 | **is a** *in a quote* | present · perfect | ju | your slave |  |  | ever | your *nmod:poss* | tree rules |
| 4 | **is a** *in a quote* | past | ju | a small boy |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

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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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