---
title: So the chief called a bird to him and sent it off with a message to… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: So the chief called a bird to him and sent it off with a message to his hunting dogs to come and rescue him. Who acts: chief. 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 dependency tree an
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Iv.--how Elili of Inkum Died, and Was Brought Back to Life Again., sentence 77

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So the chief called a bird to him and sent it off with a message to his hunting dogs to come and rescue him.

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**Who acts:** chief · **What happens:** call, send off, come, rescue · **To what, where:** bird, Chief, hunting dogs · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (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:pg70959:5:77
# text = So the chief called a bird to him and sent it off with a message to his hunting dogs to come and rescue him.
1	So	so	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	chief	chief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
4	called	call	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	acl	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
7	to	to	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nmod	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	sent	send	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
11	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	obj	_	_
12	off	off	ADP	RP	_	10	compound:prt	_	_
13	with	with	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	message	message	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	_
16	to	to	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
17	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	19	nmod:poss	_	_
18	hunting	hunting	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	compound	_	_
19	dogs	dog	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obl	_	_
20	to	to	PART	TO	_	21	mark	_	_
21	come	come	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	advcl	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
23	rescue	rescue	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	conj	_	_
24	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **call** | participle | the chief *not said here* | a bird | Chief |  |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent bird=Topic to he=Recipient |
| 2 | **send off** | past | the chief | bird | Chief's hunting dogs |  |  | with a message | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent it=Theme to dog=Destination |
| 3 | **come** | to-infinitive | the chief *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **rescue** | infinitive | the chief *not said here* | Chief |  |  |  |  | vn steal-10.5 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=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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