--- title: All that night, the mothers of the seven boys cried bitterly; and be… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics description: All that night, the mothers of the seven boys cried bitterly; and begged the chief not to kill their sons, but he told them that the sentence must be carried out, as otherwise the water ju-ju would be angry and kill many people. Who acts: mothers, Chief, water ju ju. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/7/147/) [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/) / 147 # Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Ix.--the Story of the War Between Inkum and Enfitop., sentence 147 All that night, the mothers of the seven boys cried bitterly; and begged the chief not to kill their sons, but he told them that the sentence must be carried out, as otherwise the water ju-ju would be angry and kill many people. **Who acts:** mothers, Chief, water ju ju · **What happens:** cry, beg, not kill, tell, carry out, be · **To what, where:** chief, sons, sentence, many people · **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 (mothers, Chief, water ju ju), 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:pg70959:7:147 # text = All that night, the mothers of the seven boys cried bitterly; and begged the chief not to kill their sons, but he told them that the sentence must be carried out, as otherwise the water ju-ju would be angry and kill many people. 1 All all DET PDT PronType=Tot 3 det:predet _ _ 2 that that DET DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 3 det _ _ 3 night night NOUN NN Number=Sing 11 obl:unmarked _ SpaceAfter=No 4 , , PUNCT , _ 3 punct _ _ 5 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 6 det _ _ 6 mothers mother NOUN NNS Number=Plur 11 nsubj _ _ 7 of of ADP IN _ 10 case _ _ 8 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 10 det _ _ 9 seven seven NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 10 nummod _ _ 10 boys boy NOUN NNS Number=Plur 6 nmod _ _ 11 cried cry VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 12 bitterly bitterly ADV RB _ 11 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 13 ; ; PUNCT : _ 15 punct _ _ 14 and and CCONJ CC _ 15 cc _ _ 15 begged beg VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 11 conj _ _ 16 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 17 det _ _ 17 chief chief NOUN NN Number=Sing 15 obj _ _ 18 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 20 advmod _ _ 19 to to PART TO _ 20 mark _ _ 20 kill kill VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 15 advcl _ _ 21 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 22 nmod:poss _ _ 22 sons son NOUN NNS Number=Plur 20 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 23 , , PUNCT , _ 26 punct _ _ 24 but but CCONJ CC _ 26 cc _ _ 25 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 26 nsubj _ _ 26 told tell VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 11 conj _ _ 27 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 26 iobj _ _ 28 that that SCONJ IN _ 33 mark _ _ 29 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 30 det _ _ 30 sentence sentence NOUN NN Number=Sing 33 nsubj:pass _ _ 31 must must AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 33 aux _ _ 32 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 33 aux:pass _ _ 33 carried carry VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 26 ccomp _ _ 34 out out ADP RP _ 33 compound:prt _ SpaceAfter=No 35 , , PUNCT , _ 45 punct _ _ 36 as as SCONJ IN _ 45 mark _ _ 37 otherwise otherwise ADV RB _ 45 advmod _ _ 38 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 42 det _ _ 39 water water NOUN NN Number=Sing 42 compound _ _ 40 ju ju NOUN NN Number=Sing 42 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 41 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 40 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 42 ju ju NOUN NN Number=Sing 45 nsubj _ _ 43 would would AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 45 aux _ _ 44 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 45 cop _ _ 45 angry angry ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 33 conj _ _ 46 and and CCONJ CC _ 47 cc _ _ 47 kill kill VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 45 conj _ _ 48 many many ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 49 amod _ _ 49 people people NOUN NNS Number=Plur 47 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 50 . . PUNCT . _ 11 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **cry** *speech: express* | past | the mothers of the seven boys | | | | night | bitterly *property* | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 2 | **beg** *speech: request* | past | the mothers of the seven boys *not said here* | the chief | | | | | vn beg-58.2-1-1 «NP V NP PP.Topic»: agent=Agent chief=Recipient | | 3 | **not** **kill** | to-infinitive | the mothers of the seven boys *not said here* | boys's sons | | | | | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent son=Theme | | 4 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | Chief | | sons *= son* | | | | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent they=Recipient clause=Topic | | 5 | **carry out** | must · passive | | the sentence | | | | | vn act-114 «NP V NP»: subject=Eventuality | | 6 | **is** | would | the water ju ju | | | | | angry, otherwise *property* | tree rules | | 7 | **kill** | infinitive | the water ju ju *not said here* | many people | | | | | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent people=Theme | 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 146](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/7/146/) - next →: [sentence 148](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/7/148/) - ↑ back to [Ix.--the Story of the War Between Inkum and Enfitop.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/7/)