---
title: When all the women slaves had brought their camwood, the chief told… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: When all the women slaves had brought their camwood, the chief told the head slave to count the cakes as usual. Who acts: chief. 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 8

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When all the women slaves had brought their camwood, the chief told the head slave to count the cakes as usual.

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**Who acts:** chief · **What happens:** bring, tell, count · **To what, where:** women slaves, head slave, cakes · **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 (chief), 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:pg70959:20:8
# text = When all the women slaves had brought their camwood, the chief told the head slave to count the cakes as usual.
1	When	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	7	mark	_	_
2	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	5	det:predet	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	women	woman	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	compound	_	_
5	slaves	slave	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj:pass	_	_
6	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
7	brought	bring	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	13	advcl	_	_
8	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	camwood	camwood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	chief	chief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	_
13	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
15	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	compound	_	_
16	slave	slave	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	iobj	_	_
17	to	to	PART	TO	_	18	mark	_	_
18	count	count	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	ccomp	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	cakes	cake	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	obj	_	_
21	as	as	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	usual	usual	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	13	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **bring** | past · perfect · passive |  | all women slaves |  |  |  | slaves's camwood *obj* | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP NP»: subject=Destination camwood=Theme |
| 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | the chief |  | the head slave |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent slave=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 3 | **count** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive |  | the cakes |  |  |  | as usual | vn characterize-29.2 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent cake=Theme as usual=Attribute |

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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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