---
title: Nkanyan then took the place of his father and looked after his mothe… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: Nkanyan then took the place of his father and looked after his mother and brothers and sisters, who lived in peace and died natural deaths without being troubled by witches. Who acts: Nkanyan, brothers, witches. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xii.--co
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xii.--concerning the Okuni Witches and Cannibalism., sentence 113

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Nkanyan then took the place of his father and looked after his mother and brothers and sisters, who lived in peace and died natural deaths without being troubled by witches.

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**Who acts:** Nkanyan, brothers, witches · **What happens:** take, look, live, die, trouble · **To what, where:** place, peace, natural deaths

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This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xii.--concerning the Okuni Witches and Cannibalism.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Nkanyan, brothers, witches), 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:pg70959:9:113
# text = Nkanyan then took the place of his father and looked after his mother and brothers and sisters, who lived in peace and died natural deaths without being troubled by witches.
1	Nkanyan	Nkanyan	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
2	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	3	advmod	_	_
3	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	place	place	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	looked	look	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
11	after	after	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	13	nmod:poss	_	_
13	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
15	brothers	brother	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	conj	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
17	sisters	sister	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
19	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	20	nsubj	_	_
20	lived	live	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	acl:relcl	_	_
21	in	in	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	peace	peace	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
24	died	die	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	conj	_	_
25	natural	natural	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	amod	_	_
26	deaths	death	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	24	obj	_	_
27	without	without	SCONJ	IN	_	29	mark	_	_
28	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	29	aux:pass	_	_
29	troubled	trouble	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	24	advcl	_	_
30	by	by	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
31	witches	witch	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **take** | past | Nkanyan | the place of Nkanyan's father |  |  | then |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent place=Theme |
| 2 | **look** | past | Nkanyan *not said here* |  |  |  | after Nkanyan's mother and brothers and sisters |  | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus |
| 3 | **live** | past | brothers and sisters |  |  | peace |  |  | vn lodge-46 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in peace=Location |
| 4 | **die** | past | brothers and sisters *not said here* | natural deaths |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **trouble** | gerund · passive | witches |  |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer |

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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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