--- title: Then the owners of the five slaves who had been killed went to him a… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics description: Then the owners of the five slaves who had been killed went to him and demanded payment, and the other people to whom he owed money worried him all day, until at last he resolved to kill himself rather than go home in shame and debt. Who acts: owners, Eyu, other people. A sentence of «Ikom folk stor --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/21/4/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/) / [Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Change…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/21/) / 4 # Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 4, sentence 4 Then the owners of the five slaves who had been killed went to him and demanded payment, and the other people to whom he owed money worried him all day, until at last he resolved to kill himself rather than go home in shame and debt. **Who acts:** owners, Eyu, other people · **What happens:** kill, go, demand, owe, worry, resolve · **To what, where:** five slaves, Eyu, payment, money, last, shame This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 4. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (owners, Eyu, other people), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong. ## The tree {#tree} ```conllu # sent_id = book:pg70959:21:4 # text = Then the owners of the five slaves who had been killed went to him and demanded payment, and the other people to whom he owed money worried him all day, until at last he resolved to kill himself rather than go home in shame and debt. 1 Then then ADV RB PronType=Dem 12 advmod _ _ 2 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 3 det _ _ 3 owners owner NOUN NNS Number=Plur 12 nsubj _ _ 4 of of ADP IN _ 7 case _ _ 5 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 7 det _ _ 6 five five NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 7 nummod _ _ 7 slaves slave NOUN NNS Number=Plur 3 nmod _ _ 8 who who PRON WP PronType=Rel 11 nsubj:pass _ _ 9 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 11 aux _ _ 10 been be AUX VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 11 aux:pass _ _ 11 killed kill VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 7 acl:relcl _ _ 12 went go VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 13 to to ADP IN _ 14 case _ _ 14 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 12 obl _ _ 15 and and CCONJ CC _ 16 cc _ _ 16 demanded demand VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 12 conj _ _ 17 payment payment NOUN NN Number=Sing 16 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 18 , , PUNCT , _ 28 punct _ _ 19 and and CCONJ CC _ 28 cc _ _ 20 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 22 det _ _ 21 other other ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 22 amod _ _ 22 people people NOUN NNS Number=Plur 28 nsubj _ _ 23 to to ADP IN _ 24 case _ _ 24 whom whom PRON WP PronType=Rel 22 nmod _ _ 25 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 26 nsubj _ _ 26 owed owe VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 24 acl:relcl _ _ 27 money money NOUN NN Number=Sing 26 obj _ _ 28 worried worry VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 12 conj _ _ 29 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 28 obj _ _ 30 all all DET DT PronType=Tot 31 det _ _ 31 day day NOUN NN Number=Sing 28 obl:unmarked _ SpaceAfter=No 32 , , PUNCT , _ 37 punct _ _ 33 until until SCONJ IN _ 37 mark _ _ 34 at at ADP IN _ 35 case _ _ 35 last last NOUN NN Number=Sing 37 obl _ _ 36 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 37 nsubj _ _ 37 resolved resolve VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 28 conj _ _ 38 to to PART TO _ 39 mark _ _ 39 kill kill VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 37 xcomp _ _ 40 himself himself PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes 39 obj _ _ 41 rather rather ADV RB ExtPos=CCONJ 43 cc _ _ 42 than than ADP IN _ 41 fixed _ _ 43 go go VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 39 conj _ _ 44 home home ADV RB _ 43 advmod _ _ 45 in in ADP IN _ 46 case _ _ 46 shame shame NOUN NN Number=Sing 43 obl _ _ 47 and and CCONJ CC _ 48 cc _ _ 48 debt debt NOUN NN Number=Sing 46 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 49 . . PUNCT . _ 12 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **kill** | past · perfect · passive | | the five slaves | | | | | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme | | 2 | **go** | past | the owners of the five slaves | | Eyu | | then | | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to he=Initial\_Location | | 3 | **demand** *speech: request* | past | the owners of the five slaves *not said here* | payment | | | | | vn require-103-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme payment=Precondition | | 4 | **owe** | past | Eyu | money | | | | | vn future\_having-13.3 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: agent=Agent money=Theme | | 5 | **worry** | past | the other people | Eyu | | | day | | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus he=Experiencer | | 6 | **resolve** | past | Eyu | | | last | | | tree rules | | 7 | **kill** | to-infinitive | Eyu *not said here* | Eyu | | | | | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent himself=Theme | | 8 | **go** | infinitive | Eyu *not said here* | | | shame and debt | | home *property* | vn occur-48.3-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme in shame=Location | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/21/3/) - next →: [sentence 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/21/5/) - ↑ back to [Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/21/)