---
title: At the meeting, one of the boys who had been a member of the Eberamb… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: At the meeting, one of the boys who had been a member of the Eberambi society got up and said that five of their members were missing, and he believed that it was the Inkum people who had killed them, and that they had stolen the children as well. Who acts: one member, five, meeting. A sentence of «
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Ix.--the Story of the War Between Inkum and Enfitop., sentence 34

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At the meeting, one of the boys who had been a member of the Eberambi society got up and said that five of their members were missing, and he believed that it was the Inkum people who had killed them, and that they had stolen the children as well.

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**Who acts:** one member, five, meeting · **What happens:** be, get up, say, believe, kill, steal · **To what, where:** one member, meeting, palaver, people · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (one member, five, meeting), 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:pg70959:7:34
# text = At the meeting, one of the boys who had been a member of the Eberambi society got up and said that five of their members were missing, and he believed that it was the Inkum people who had killed them, and that they had stolen the children as well.
1	At	at	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	meeting	meeting	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
5	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	13	nummod	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	boys	boy	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	obl	_	_
9	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	13	nsubj	_	_
10	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
11	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	13	cop	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	member	member	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nsubj	_	_
14	of	of	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
16	Eberambi	Eberambi	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	17	compound	_	_
17	society	society	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nmod	_	_
18	got	get	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
19	up	up	ADV	RB	_	18	advmod	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
21	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	conj	_	_
22	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	28	mark	_	_
23	five	five	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	28	nsubj	_	_
24	of	of	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	26	nmod:poss	_	_
26	members	member	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	nmod	_	_
27	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	28	cop	_	_
28	missing	missing	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
30	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
31	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
32	believed	believe	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	conj	_	_
33	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	41	mark	_	_
34	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	41	nsubj:pass	_	_
35	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	41	aux:pass	_	_
36	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
37	Inkum	Inkum	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	38	compound	_	_
38	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	41	nsubj:pass	_	_
39	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	41	nsubj:pass	_	_
40	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	41	aux	_	_
41	killed	kill	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	32	ccomp	_	_
42	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	41	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	48	punct	_	_
44	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	48	cc	_	_
45	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	48	mark	_	_
46	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	48	nsubj:pass	_	_
47	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	48	aux	_	_
48	stolen	steal	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	18	conj	_	_
49	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	50	det	_	_
50	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	48	obj	_	_
51	as	as	ADV	RB	ExtPos=ADV	48	advmod	_	_
52	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	51	fixed	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	18	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past · perfect |  | a one member |  |  |  | of the boys; of the Eberambi society; who *nsubj* | tree rules |
| 2 | **get up** | past | a one member |  |  | the meeting |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | a one member *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **is** | past | five of members's members |  |  |  |  | missing *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **believe** | past | meeting |  |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 6 | **kill** | past · perfect · passive |  | palaver |  |  |  | the Inkum people *nsubj:pass*; who *nsubj:pass*; people *obj* | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP ADJ»: subject=Experiencer they=Result |
| 7 | **steal** | past · perfect · passive |  | people |  |  |  | the children *obj* | vn steal-10.5-1 «NP V NP NP»: subject=Beneficiary child=Theme |

<!-- .note -->
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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