--- title: At last, he thought of a plan, so he went to one of Chief ’Ndabu’s f… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics description: At last, he thought of a plan, so he went to one of Chief ’Ndabu’s former wives, who was called Elilli, and asked her what sort of ju-ju her former husband had to protect him against witches. Who acts: chief, sort. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xii.- --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/9/35/) [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/) / [Xii.--concerning the Okuni Witches and…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/9/) / 35 # Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xii.--concerning the Okuni Witches and Cannibalism., sentence 35 At last, he thought of a plan, so he went to one of Chief ’Ndabu’s former wives, who was called Elilli, and asked her what sort of ju-ju her former husband had to protect him against witches. **Who acts:** chief, sort · **What happens:** think, go, call, ask, have, protect · **To what, where:** last, one, former wives, Elilli, chief, ju · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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 (chief, sort), 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:pg70959:9:35 # text = At last, he thought of a plan, so he went to one of Chief ’Ndabu’s former wives, who was called Elilli, and asked her what sort of ju-ju her former husband had to protect him against witches. 1 At at ADP IN _ 2 case _ _ 2 last last ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 5 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 3 , , PUNCT , _ 2 punct _ _ 4 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 5 nsubj _ _ 5 thought think VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 6 of of ADP IN _ 8 case _ _ 7 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 8 det _ _ 8 plan plan NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 9 , , PUNCT , _ 12 punct _ _ 10 so so ADV RB _ 12 advmod _ _ 11 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 12 nsubj _ _ 12 went go VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 5 conj _ _ 13 to to ADP IN _ 14 case _ _ 14 one one NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 12 obl _ _ 15 of of ADP IN _ 21 case _ _ 16 Chief Chief PROPN NNP Number=Sing 18 nmod:poss _ _ 17 ’ 's PART POS _ 16 case _ SpaceAfter=No 18 Ndabu Ndabu PROPN NNP Number=Sing 21 nmod:poss _ SpaceAfter=No 19 ’s 's PART POS _ 18 case _ _ 20 former former ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 21 amod _ _ 21 wives wife NOUN NNS Number=Plur 14 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 22 , , PUNCT , _ 25 punct _ _ 23 who who PRON WP PronType=Rel 25 nsubj:pass _ _ 24 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 25 aux:pass _ _ 25 called call VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 21 acl:relcl _ _ 26 Elilli Elilli PROPN NNP Number=Sing 25 xcomp _ SpaceAfter=No 27 , , PUNCT , _ 29 punct _ _ 28 and and CCONJ CC _ 29 cc _ _ 29 asked ask VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 5 parataxis _ _ 30 her she PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 29 iobj _ _ 31 what what DET WDT PronType=Int 32 det _ _ 32 sort sort NOUN NN Number=Sing 40 nsubj _ _ 33 of of ADP IN _ 34 case _ _ 34 ju ju NOUN NN Number=Sing 32 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 35 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 36 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 36 ju ju PROPN NNP Number=Sing 34 appos _ _ 37 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 39 nmod:poss _ _ 38 former former ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 39 amod _ _ 39 husband husband NOUN NN Number=Sing 40 nsubj _ _ 40 had have VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 29 ccomp _ _ 41 to to PART TO _ 42 mark _ _ 42 protect protect VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 40 xcomp _ _ 43 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 42 obj _ _ 44 against against ADP IN _ 45 case _ _ 45 witches witch NOUN NNS Number=Plur 42 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 46 . . PUNCT . _ 5 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **think** *speech: other* | past | chief | | | last | | of a plan | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 2 | **go** | past | chief | | one of Chief's Ndabu's former wives | | | | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to one=Initial\_Location | | 3 | **call** | past · passive | | Chief's Ndabu's former wives | | | | Elilli *xcomp* | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: subject=Recipient | | 4 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | | | Elilli | | | | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S»: agent=Agent she=Recipient clause=Topic | | 5 | **have** | past | what sort of ju | | | | | ju's former husband *nsubj* | tree rules | | 6 | **protect** | to-infinitive | what sort of ju *not said here* | | chief | | | against witches | vn defend-72.3 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent he=Beneficiary against witch=Theme | | 7 | **sort** | | | ju | | | | | nom sort «cognition transitive»: of=patient | 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 34](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/9/34/) - next →: [sentence 36](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/9/36/) - ↑ back to [Xii.--concerning the Okuni Witches and Cannibalism.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/9/)