---
title: VI.--THE STORY OF THE WITCH WHO TRIED TO KILL HER HUSBAND; OR, WHY N… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: VI.--THE STORY OF THE WITCH WHO TRIED TO KILL HER HUSBAND; OR, WHY NATIVE DOGS REFUSE TO OBEY THEIR MASTERS. Who acts: WITCH, NATIVE DOGS. 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., with its depen
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Iv.--how Elili of Inkum Died, and Was Brought Back to Life Again., sentence 51

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VI.--THE STORY OF THE WITCH WHO TRIED TO KILL HER HUSBAND; OR, WHY NATIVE DOGS REFUSE TO OBEY THEIR MASTERS.

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**Who acts:** WITCH, NATIVE DOGS · **What happens:** try, kill, refuse, not obey · **To what, where:** HUSBAND, MASTERS, VI

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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 (WITCH, NATIVE DOGS), 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:pg70959:5:51
# text = VI.--THE STORY OF THE WITCH WHO TRIED TO KILL HER HUSBAND; OR, WHY NATIVE DOGS REFUSE TO OBEY THEIR MASTERS.
1	VI	VI	NUM	CD	NumForm=Roman|NumType=Card	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	THE	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	STORY	story	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	appos	_	_
6	OF	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	THE	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	WITCH	witch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
9	WHO	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	10	nsubj	_	_
10	TRIED	try	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	acl:relcl	_	_
11	TO	to	PART	TO	_	12	mark	_	_
12	KILL	kill	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	xcomp	_	_
13	HER	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	14	nmod:poss	_	_
14	HUSBAND	husband	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
16	OR	OR	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
18	WHY	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	21	advmod	_	_
19	NATIVE	native	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
20	DOGS	dog	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	nsubj	_	_
21	REFUSE	refuse	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
22	TO	to	PART	TO	_	23	mark	_	_
23	OBEY	obey	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	xcomp	_	_
24	THEIR	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	25	nmod:poss	_	_
25	MASTERS	master	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **try** | past | the WITCH |  |  |  |  |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **kill** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the WITCH *not said here* | E.D's HUSBAND |  |  |  |  | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent husband=Theme |
| 3 | **refuse** | present | NATIVE DOGS |  |  |  |  |  | vn reject-77.2 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 4 | **not** **obey** | to-infinitive | NATIVE DOGS *not said here* | DOGS's MASTERS |  |  |  |  | vn abide\_by-93.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent master=Theme |

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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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