---
title: Immediately the dogs got the message they started off to help their… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: Immediately the dogs got the message they started off to help their master, but the witch Akoba caused a flood to overflow the path, so that the dogs could not track her. Who acts: dogs, witch. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Iv.--how Elili of Inkum Di
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Iv.--how Elili of Inkum Died, and Was Brought Back to Life Again., sentence 78

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Immediately the dogs got the message they started off to help their master, but the witch Akoba caused a flood to overflow the path, so that the dogs could not track her.

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**Who acts:** dogs, witch · **What happens:** get, start off, help, cause, overflow, not track · **To what, where:** message, master, flood, path, WITCH

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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 (dogs, witch), 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:pg70959:5:78
# text = Immediately the dogs got the message they started off to help their master, but the witch Akoba caused a flood to overflow the path, so that the dogs could not track her.
1	Immediately	immediately	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	dogs	dog	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	got	get	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	message	message	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
7	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
8	started	start	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	acl:relcl	_	_
9	off	off	ADP	RP	_	8	compound:prt	_	_
10	to	to	PART	TO	_	11	mark	_	_
11	help	help	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	advcl	_	_
12	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	13	nmod:poss	_	_
13	master	master	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
15	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	witch	witch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nsubj	_	_
18	Akoba	Akoba	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	17	appos	_	_
19	caused	cause	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
20	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	flood	flood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obj	_	_
22	to	to	PART	TO	_	23	mark	_	_
23	overflow	overflow	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	acl	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	path	path	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
27	so	so	SCONJ	IN	ExtPos=SCONJ	33	mark	_	_
28	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	27	fixed	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	dogs	dog	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	33	nsubj	_	_
31	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	33	aux	_	_
32	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	33	advmod	_	_
33	track	track	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	conj	_	_
34	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **get** | past | the dogs | the message |  |  |  | immediately *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer message=Stimulus |
| 2 | **start off** | past | DOGS *= dog* | the message *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent message=Eventuality |
| 3 | **help** | to-infinitive | DOGS *= dog* *not said here* | DOGS's master |  |  |  |  | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent master=Beneficiary |
| 4 | **cause** | past | the witch | a flood |  |  |  |  | vn engender-27.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition flood=Patient |
| 5 | **overflow** | to-infinitive | the witch *not said here* | the path |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **not** **track** | could | the dogs | WITCH |  |  |  |  | vn stalk-35.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent she=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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