--- title: Chief Awum then told his young men to dig a very deep pit on one sid… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics description: Chief Awum then told his young men to dig a very deep pit on one side of the rock next to its deepest side, and, when it was finished, he placed sharp stakes firmly in the ground with the points upwards. Who acts: Chief. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/7/12/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/) / [Ix.--the Story of the War Between Inku…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/7/) / 12 # Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Ix.--the Story of the War Between Inkum and Enfitop., sentence 12 Chief Awum then told his young men to dig a very deep pit on one side of the rock next to its deepest side, and, when it was finished, he placed sharp stakes firmly in the ground with the points upwards. **Who acts:** Chief · **What happens:** tell, dig, finish, place · **To what, where:** young men, deep pit, one side, rock, sharp stakes, ground · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Ix.--the Story of the War Between Inkum and Enfitop.. 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. **Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong. ## The tree {#tree} ```conllu # sent_id = book:pg70959:7:12 # text = Chief Awum then told his young men to dig a very deep pit on one side of the rock next to its deepest side, and, when it was finished, he placed sharp stakes firmly in the ground with the points upwards. 1 Chief Chief PROPN NNP Number=Sing 4 nsubj _ _ 2 Awum Awum PROPN NNP Number=Sing 1 flat _ _ 3 then then ADV RB PronType=Dem 4 advmod _ _ 4 told tell VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 5 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 7 nmod:poss _ _ 6 young young ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 7 amod _ _ 7 men man NOUN NNS Number=Plur 4 obj _ _ 8 to to PART TO _ 9 mark _ _ 9 dig dig VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 4 xcomp _ _ 10 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 13 det _ _ 11 very very ADV RB _ 12 advmod _ _ 12 deep deep ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 13 amod _ _ 13 pit pit NOUN NN Number=Sing 9 obj _ _ 14 on on ADP IN _ 16 case _ _ 15 one one NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 16 nummod _ _ 16 side side NOUN NN Number=Sing 9 obl _ _ 17 of of ADP IN _ 19 case _ _ 18 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 19 det _ _ 19 rock rock NOUN NN Number=Sing 16 nmod _ _ 20 next next ADV RB _ 24 advmod _ _ 21 to to ADP IN _ 24 case _ _ 22 its its PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 24 nmod:poss _ _ 23 deepest deep ADJ JJS Degree=Sup 24 amod _ _ 24 side side NOUN NN Number=Sing 9 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 25 , , PUNCT , _ 31 punct _ _ 26 and and CCONJ CC _ 31 cc _ SpaceAfter=No 27 , , PUNCT , _ 31 punct _ _ 28 when when ADV WRB PronType=Int 31 advmod _ _ 29 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 31 nsubj:pass _ _ 30 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 31 aux:pass _ _ 31 finished finish VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 4 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 32 , , PUNCT , _ 34 punct _ _ 33 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 34 nsubj _ _ 34 placed place VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 conj _ _ 35 sharp sharp ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 36 amod _ _ 36 stakes stake NOUN NNS Number=Plur 34 obj _ _ 37 firmly firmly ADV RB _ 34 advmod _ _ 38 in in ADP IN _ 40 case _ _ 39 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 40 det _ _ 40 ground ground NOUN NN Number=Sing 34 obl _ _ 41 with with ADP IN _ 43 case _ _ 42 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 43 det _ _ 43 points point NOUN NNS Number=Plur 34 obl _ _ 44 upwards upwards ADV RB _ 34 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 45 . . PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | Chief | | Chief's young men | | then | | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent man=Recipient clause=Topic | | 2 | **dig** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | Chief *not said here* | a deep pit | | one side of the rock | | to rock's deepest side | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent pit=Theme on side=Location | | 3 | **finish** | past · passive | | rock | | | | | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: subject=Eventuality | | 4 | **place** | past | Chief | sharp stakes | | the ground | | with the points; firmly, upwards *property* | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent stake=Theme in ground=Destination | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/7/11/) - next →: [sentence 13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/7/13/) - ↑ back to [Ix.--the Story of the War Between Inkum and Enfitop.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/7/)