---
title: Elili was the head wife and looked after the house, and for several… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: Elili was the head wife and looked after the house, and for several years everything went well, until at last Elili became sick, and, after a short illness, died, and was buried. Who acts: Elili, head wife, everything, last Elili. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinston
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Iv.--how Elili of Inkum Died, and Was Brought Back to Life Again., sentence 3

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Elili was the head wife and looked after the house, and for several years everything went well, until at last Elili became sick, and, after a short illness, died, and was buried.

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**Who acts:** Elili, head wife, everything, last Elili · **What happens:** be, look, go, become, die, bury · **To what, where:** head wife

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This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Iv.--how Elili of Inkum Died, and Was Brought Back to Life Again.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Elili, head wife, everything, last Elili), 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:pg70959:5:3
# text = Elili was the head wife and looked after the house, and for several years everything went well, until at last Elili became sick, and, after a short illness, died, and was buried.
1	Elili	Elili	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	_
5	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
7	looked	look	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	after	after	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
13	for	for	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	several	several	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	obl	_	_
16	everything	everything	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Tot	17	nsubj	_	_
17	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
18	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	17	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
20	until	until	SCONJ	IN	_	24	mark	_	_
21	at	at	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
23	Elili	Elili	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	24	nsubj	_	_
24	became	become	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	parataxis	_	_
25	sick	sick	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
29	after	after	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
30	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
31	short	short	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	32	amod	_	_
32	illness	illness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
34	died	die	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
36	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	38	cc	_	_
37	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	38	aux:pass	_	_
38	buried	bury	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | Elili | the head wife |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **look** | past | the head wife |  |  |  | after the house |  | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus |
| 3 | **go** | past | everything |  |  |  | year | well *property* | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **become** | past | last Elili |  |  |  |  | sick *property* | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient |
| 5 | **die** | past | last Elili *not said here* |  |  |  | after a short illness |  | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |
| 6 | **bury** | past · passive | the head wife *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn put-9.1-1 «NP V NP» |

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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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