---
title: He told all the slaves to be quiet and not to tell anyone until he g… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: He told all the slaves to be quiet and not to tell anyone until he gave them permission, as the head slave knew that directly Odoggha Eyu heard of his brother’s death he would at once come to Inkum to keep the funeral and take all the goods which were formerly his father’s. Who acts: Oga, slaves, he
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 3, sentence 56

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He told all the slaves to be quiet and not to tell anyone until he gave them permission, as the head slave knew that directly Odoggha Eyu heard of his brother’s death he would at once come to Inkum to keep the funeral and take all the goods which were formerly his father’s.

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**Who acts:** Oga, slaves, head slave, Odoggha, goods, brother · **What happens:** tell, be, not tell, give, know, hear · **To what, where:** slaves, anyone, permission, Inkum, funeral, goods · **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 (Oga, slaves, head slave, Odoggha), 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:pg70959:20:56
# text = He told all the slaves to be quiet and not to tell anyone until he gave them permission, as the head slave knew that directly Odoggha Eyu heard of his brother’s death he would at once come to Inkum to keep the funeral and take all the goods which were formerly his father’s.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	5	det:predet	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	slaves	slave	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
7	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	cop	_	_
8	quiet	quiet	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	xcomp	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
10	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	12	advmod	_	_
11	to	to	PART	TO	_	12	mark	_	_
12	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	conj	_	_
13	anyone	anyone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	12	obj	_	_
14	until	until	SCONJ	IN	_	16	mark	_	_
15	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
16	gave	give	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	ccomp	_	_
17	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	iobj	_	_
18	permission	permission	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
20	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	24	mark	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
22	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	compound	_	_
23	slave	slave	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	nsubj	_	_
24	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
25	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	29	mark	_	_
26	directly	directly	ADV	RB	_	27	advmod	_	_
27	Odoggha	Odoggha	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	29	nsubj	_	_
28	Eyu	Eyu	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	27	flat	_	_
29	heard	hear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	39	advcl	_	_
30	of	of	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
31	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	32	nmod:poss	_	_
32	brother	brother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	’s	's	PART	POS	_	32	case	_	_
34	death	death	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	_
35	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	36	nsubj	_	_
36	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	34	acl:relcl	_	_
37	at	at	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
38	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	39	obl	_	_
39	come	come	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	24	ccomp	_	_
40	to	to	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
41	Inkum	Inkum	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	39	obl	_	_
42	to	to	PART	TO	_	43	mark	_	_
43	keep	keep	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	39	advcl	_	_
44	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	45	det	_	_
45	funeral	funeral	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	obj	_	_
46	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	47	cc	_	_
47	take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	43	conj	_	_
48	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	50	det:predet	_	_
49	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	50	det	_	_
50	goods	goods	NOUN	NNS	Number=Ptan	47	obj	_	_
51	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	55	nsubj	_	_
52	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	55	cop	_	_
53	formerly	formerly	ADV	RB	_	55	advmod	_	_
54	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	55	nmod:poss	_	_
55	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	50	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
56	’s	's	PART	POS	_	55	case	_	SpaceAfter=No
57	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | Oga | all slaves |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent slave=Recipient |
| 2 | **is** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | all slaves *not said here* |  |  |  |  | quiet *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **not** **tell** *speech: assert* | to-infinitive | Oga *not said here* | anyone |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent anyone=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 4 | **give** | past | Oga | permission | slaves *= slave* |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent they=Recipient permission=Theme |
| 5 | **know** | past | the head slave |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 6 | **hear** | past | Odoggha |  |  |  |  | of Oga's brother's death | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V PP.stimulus»: agent=Experiencer of death=Stimulus |
| 7 | **come** | infinitive |  |  |  | Inkum |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to inkum=Initial\_Location |
| 8 | **keep** | to-infinitive |  | the funeral |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent funeral=Theme |
| 9 | **take** | infinitive |  | all goods |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent goods=Theme |
| 10 | **is** | past | all goods |  |  |  |  | 's Oga's father; Oga *nmod:poss*; formerly *property* | tree rules |
| 11 | **die** |  | Oga's brother |  |  |  |  |  | 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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