---
title: But the head slave told him that it was the custom for him to bury t… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: But the head slave told him that it was the custom for him to bury the dead body first, and that after the feast the keys would be handed over; he also added that everything in the house was as his brother Oga had left it, and that all the doors were locked. Who acts: head slave, order, Odoggha, eve
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 3, sentence 67

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But the head slave told him that it was the custom for him to bury the dead body first, and that after the feast the keys would be handed over; he also added that everything in the house was as his brother Oga had left it, and that all the doors were locked.

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**Who acts:** head slave, order, Odoggha, everything · **What happens:** tell, be, bury, hand over, add, leave · **To what, where:** Odoggha, custom, dead body, keys, brother, doors · **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, order, Odoggha, everything), 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:pg70959:20:67
# text = But the head slave told him that it was the custom for him to bury the dead body first, and that after the feast the keys would be handed over; he also added that everything in the house was as his brother Oga had left it, and that all the doors were locked.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
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	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	iobj	_	_
7	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
8	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
9	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	cop	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	custom	custom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	ccomp	_	_
12	for	for	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nmod	_	_
14	to	to	PART	TO	_	15	mark	_	_
15	bury	bury	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	xcomp	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
17	dead	dead	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	body	body	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	_
19	first	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	15	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
22	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	25	mark	_	_
23	after	after	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	feast	feast	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	advcl	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	keys	key	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	30	nsubj:pass	_	_
28	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	30	aux	_	_
29	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	30	aux:pass	_	_
30	handed	hand	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	conj	_	_
31	over	over	ADP	RP	_	30	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
33	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	35	nsubj	_	_
34	also	also	ADV	RB	_	35	advmod	_	_
35	added	add	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
36	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	47	mark	_	_
37	everything	everything	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Tot	44	nsubj	_	_
38	in	in	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
39	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
40	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	nmod	_	_
41	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	44	cop	_	_
42	as	as	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
43	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	44	nmod:poss	_	_
44	brother	brother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	nsubj:pass	_	_
45	Oga	Oga	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	44	appos	_	_
46	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	47	aux	_	_
47	left	leave	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	35	advcl	_	_
48	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	47	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	56	punct	_	_
50	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	56	cc	_	_
51	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	56	mark	_	_
52	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	54	det:predet	_	_
53	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	54	det	_	_
54	doors	door	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	56	nsubj:pass	_	_
55	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	56	aux:pass	_	_
56	locked	lock	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	47	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
57	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | the head slave |  | Odoggha |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent he=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 2 | **is a** | past | order | the custom |  |  |  | for Odoggha | tree rules |
| 3 | **bury** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the head slave *not said here* | the dead body |  |  |  | first *property* | vn put-9.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent body=Theme |
| 4 | **hand over** | would · passive |  | the keys |  |  |  | the feast *advcl* | vn send-11.1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 5 | **add** *speech: assert* | past | Odoggha |  |  |  |  |  | vn mix-22.1-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **is** | past | everything in the house |  |  |  |  | as Odoggha's brother; Odoggha *nmod:poss*; Oga *appos* | tree rules |
| 7 | **leave** | past · perfect · passive |  | Odoggha's brother |  |  |  | order *obj* | vn sustain-55.6-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: subject=Theme it=Attribute |
| 8 | **lock** | past · passive |  | all doors |  |  |  |  | vn tape-22.4 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |

<!-- .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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