---
title: The head slave waited until the day came for the women to bring thei… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: The head slave waited until the day came for the women to bring their camwood to be counted, and then told his wife to keep back three balls of camwood, so that if the chief flogged her, he would be able to give a good reason to the other slaves why they should kill their master. Who acts: head slav
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 3, sentence 7

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The head slave waited until the day came for the women to bring their camwood to be counted, and then told his wife to keep back three balls of camwood, so that if the chief flogged her, he would be able to give a good reason to the other slaves why they should kill their master.

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**Who acts:** head slave, day, chief, slaves · **What happens:** wait, come, bring, count, tell, keep back · **To what, where:** camwood, wife, three balls, Erim, good reason, other slaves · **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, day, chief, slaves), 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:pg70959:20:7
# text = The head slave waited until the day came for the women to bring their camwood to be counted, and then told his wife to keep back three balls of camwood, so that if the chief flogged her, he would be able to give a good reason to the other slaves why they should kill their master.
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	waited	wait	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	until	until	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
8	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	advcl	_	_
9	for	for	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	women	woman	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	_
12	to	to	PART	TO	_	13	mark	_	_
13	bring	bring	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	advcl	_	_
14	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	15	nmod:poss	_	_
15	camwood	camwood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	_
16	to	to	PART	TO	_	18	mark	_	_
17	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	aux:pass	_	_
18	counted	count	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	13	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
21	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	22	advmod	_	_
22	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
23	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	24	nmod:poss	_	_
24	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	iobj	_	_
25	to	to	PART	TO	_	26	mark	_	_
26	keep	keep	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	xcomp	_	_
27	back	back	ADV	RB	_	26	advmod	_	_
28	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	29	nummod	_	_
29	balls	ball	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	26	obj	_	_
30	of	of	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
31	camwood	camwood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	44	punct	_	_
33	so	so	SCONJ	IN	_	44	mark	_	_
34	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	44	mark	_	_
35	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	38	mark	_	_
36	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
37	chief	chief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	nsubj	_	_
38	flogged	flog	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	44	advcl	_	_
39	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	38	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
41	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	44	nsubj	_	_
42	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	44	aux	_	_
43	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	44	cop	_	_
44	able	able	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	ccomp	_	_
45	to	to	PART	TO	_	46	mark	_	_
46	give	give	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	44	xcomp	_	_
47	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	49	det	_	_
48	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	49	amod	_	_
49	reason	reason	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	46	obj	_	_
50	to	to	ADP	IN	_	53	case	_	_
51	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	53	det	_	_
52	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	53	amod	_	_
53	slaves	slave	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	49	nmod	_	_
54	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	57	advmod	_	_
55	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	57	nsubj	_	_
56	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	57	aux	_	_
57	kill	kill	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	46	advcl	_	_
58	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	59	nmod:poss	_	_
59	master	master	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	57	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
60	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **wait** | past | the head slave |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **come** | past | the day |  |  |  |  | for the women | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **bring** | to-infinitive | the day *not said here* | slaves's camwood |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP together»: agent=Agent camwood=Theme |
| 4 | **count** | to-infinitive · passive | the day *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn matter-91 «NP V» |
| 5 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | the head slave *not said here* |  | son's wife |  | then |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent wife=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 6 | **keep back** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the head slave *not said here* | three balls of camwood |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent ball=Theme |
| 7 | **flog** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | the chief | Erim |  |  |  |  | vn spank-18.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent she=Patient |
| 8 | **is** | would | Chief |  |  |  |  | able *property* | tree rules |
| 9 | **give** | to-infinitive | Chief *not said here* | a good reason | the other slaves |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent reason=Theme to slave=Recipient |
| 10 | **kill** | should | slaves *= slave* | slaves's master |  |  |  |  | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent master=Theme |

<!-- .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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