---
title: To return to the Inkum people, who had escaped into the bush on the… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: To return to the Inkum people, who had escaped into the bush on the night of the battle, as soon as it was dark, Chief Indoma called them all together and asked his ju-ju man what he had done to make him so unfortunate in the battle and to lose so many people. Who acts: Chief, Inkum people, battle. 
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Ix.--the Story of the War Between Inkum and Enfitop., sentence 70

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To return to the Inkum people, who had escaped into the bush on the night of the battle, as soon as it was dark, Chief Indoma called them all together and asked his ju-ju man what he had done to make him so unfortunate in the battle and to lose so many people.

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**Who acts:** Chief, Inkum people, battle · **What happens:** return, escape, be, call, ask, do · **To what, where:** bush, people, ju man, Chief, many 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 (Chief, Inkum people, battle), 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:pg70959:7:70
# text = To return to the Inkum people, who had escaped into the bush on the night of the battle, as soon as it was dark, Chief Indoma called them all together and asked his ju-ju man what he had done to make him so unfortunate in the battle and to lose so many people.
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	return	return	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	30	advcl	_	_
3	to	to	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	Inkum	Inkum	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
8	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	10	nsubj	_	_
9	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
10	escaped	escape	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	6	acl:relcl	_	_
11	into	into	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	bush	bush	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	_
14	on	on	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	_
17	of	of	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	battle	battle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
21	as	as	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	_
22	soon	soon	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	2	advmod	_	_
23	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	26	mark	_	_
24	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
25	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	cop	_	_
26	dark	dark	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
28	Chief	Chief	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	30	nsubj	_	_
29	Indoma	Indoma	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	28	flat	_	_
30	called	call	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
31	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	obj	_	_
32	all	all	ADV	RB	_	33	advmod	_	_
33	together	together	ADV	RB	_	30	advmod	_	_
34	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
35	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	30	conj	_	_
36	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	40	nmod:poss	_	_
37	ju	ju	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	39	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	37	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	ju	ju	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	40	compound	_	_
40	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	obj	_	_
41	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	44	obj	_	_
42	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	44	nsubj	_	_
43	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	44	aux	_	_
44	done	do	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	35	ccomp	_	_
45	to	to	PART	TO	_	46	mark	_	_
46	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	44	advcl	_	_
47	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	46	obj	_	_
48	so	so	ADV	RB	_	49	advmod	_	_
49	unfortunate	unfortunate	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	46	xcomp	_	_
50	in	in	ADP	IN	_	52	case	_	_
51	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	52	det	_	_
52	battle	battle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	49	obl	_	_
53	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	55	cc	_	_
54	to	to	PART	TO	_	55	mark	_	_
55	lose	lose	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	46	conj	_	_
56	so	so	ADV	RB	_	57	advmod	_	_
57	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	58	amod	_	_
58	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	55	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
59	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	30	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **return** | to-infinitive | Chief *not said here* |  |  |  |  | to the Inkum people *result*; soon *property* | vn convert-26.6.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Patient to people=Result |
| 2 | **escape** | past · perfect | the Inkum people |  |  | the bush | night |  | vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme into bush=Initial\_Location |
| 3 | **is** | past | battle |  |  |  |  | dark *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **call** | past | Chief | people |  |  |  | together *property* | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent they=Recipient |
| 5 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | Chief *not said here* |  | Chief's ju man |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S»: agent=Agent man=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 6 | **do** | past · perfect | Chief |  |  |  |  | what *obj* | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Eventuality |
| 7 | **make** | to-infinitive | Chief *not said here* | Chief |  |  |  | unfortunate *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset he=Product |
| 8 | **lose** | to-infinitive | Chief *not said here* | many people |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent people=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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