---
title: When they reached the foot of the tree the Chief told them to kill t… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: When they reached the foot of the tree the Chief told them to kill the woman, so they all leaped on her, and bit her until she died. Who acts: DOGS, Chief, tree, WITCH. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Iv.--how Elili of Inkum Died, and Was Brought Back 
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Iv.--how Elili of Inkum Died, and Was Brought Back to Life Again., sentence 80

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When they reached the foot of the tree the Chief told them to kill the woman, so they all leaped on her, and bit her until she died.

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**Who acts:** DOGS, Chief, tree, WITCH · **What happens:** reach, tell, kill, leap, bite, die · **To what, where:** foot, tree, DOGS, woman, WITCH · **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 (DOGS, Chief, tree, 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:pg70959:5:80
# text = When they reached the foot of the tree the Chief told them to kill the woman, so they all leaped on her, and bit her until she died.
1	When	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	3	mark	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	reached	reach	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	advcl	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	foot	foot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	Chief	Chief	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
11	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	acl:relcl	_	_
12	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	iobj	_	_
13	to	to	PART	TO	_	14	mark	_	_
14	kill	kill	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	xcomp	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
18	so	so	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
19	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
20	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	19	det	_	_
21	leaped	leap	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	conj	_	_
22	on	on	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
23	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
26	bit	bite	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
27	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	obj	_	_
28	until	until	SCONJ	IN	_	30	mark	_	_
29	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
30	died	die	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	26	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **reach** | past | DOGS *= dog* | the foot of the tree |  |  |  |  | vn body\_motion-49.2-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Agent foot=Theme |
| 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | the Chief | the tree *not said here* | DOGS *= dog* |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent they=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 3 | **kill** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the tree *not said here* | the woman |  |  |  |  | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent woman=Theme |
| 4 | **leap** | participle | DOGS *= dog* |  |  |  |  | on WITCH | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on she=Trajectory |
| 5 | **bite** | past |  | WITCH |  |  |  |  | vn swat-18.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent she=Patient |
| 6 | **die** | past | WITCH |  |  |  |  |  | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |

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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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