---
title: Then the chief came down from the tree, and divided Akoba’s body int… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: Then the chief came down from the tree, and divided Akoba’s body into five bundles, and told his dogs to carry them to his house, which they did. Who acts: chief, DOGS. 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 81

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Then the chief came down from the tree, and divided Akoba’s body into five bundles, and told his dogs to carry them to his house, which they did.

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**Who acts:** chief, DOGS · **What happens:** come down, divide, tell, carry, do · **To what, where:** tree, body, five bundles, dogs, house · **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, 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:pg70959:5:81
# text = Then the chief came down from the tree, and divided Akoba’s body into five bundles, and told his dogs to carry them to his house, which they did.
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	4	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	chief	chief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	down	down	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
6	from	from	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	divided	divide	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
12	Akoba	Akoba	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	14	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	’s	's	PART	POS	_	12	case	_	_
14	body	body	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	_
15	into	into	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	five	five	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	17	nummod	_	_
17	bundles	bundle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
20	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
21	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	22	nmod:poss	_	_
22	dogs	dog	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	iobj	_	_
23	to	to	PART	TO	_	24	mark	_	_
24	carry	carry	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	xcomp	_	_
25	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	obj	_	_
26	to	to	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	28	nmod:poss	_	_
28	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
30	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	32	obj	_	_
31	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
32	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	28	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come down** | past | the chief |  |  | the tree | then | down *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme from tree=Initial\_Location |
| 2 | **divide** | past | the chief *not said here* | Akoba's body |  | five bundles |  |  | vn multiply-108-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent body=Theme |
| 3 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | the chief *not said here* |  | Chief's dogs |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent dog=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 4 | **carry** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the chief *not said here* | DOGS *= dog* |  | Chief's house |  |  | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent they=Theme to house=Destination |
| 5 | **do** | past | DOGS *= dog* | Chief's house |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent which=Eventuality |

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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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