---
title: Elilli said that the safest way to dispose of them all was to put a… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: Elilli said that the safest way to dispose of them all was to put a witch into Amoru the last born, and that he would take them to his father’s house so that they would not then do anything contrary to the chief’s protecting ju-ju. Who acts: Elilli, safest way, chief, wives. A sentence of «Ikom folk
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xii.--concerning the Okuni Witches and Cannibalism., sentence 38

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Elilli said that the safest way to dispose of them all was to put a witch into Amoru the last born, and that he would take them to his father’s house so that they would not then do anything contrary to the chief’s protecting ju-ju.

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**Who acts:** Elilli, safest way, chief, wives · **What happens:** say, dispose, be, bear, take, not do · **To what, where:** Amoru, last, wives, house, anything, ju ju · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (Elilli, safest way, chief, wives), 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:pg70959:9:38
# text = Elilli said that the safest way to dispose of them all was to put a witch into Amoru the last born, and that he would take them to his father’s house so that they would not then do anything contrary to the chief’s protecting ju-ju.
1	Elilli	Elilli	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	safest	safe	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	6	amod	_	_
6	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nsubj:outer	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	dispose	dispose	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	acl	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	obl	_	_
11	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	10	nmod:unmarked	_	_
12	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	cop	_	_
13	to	to	PART	TO	_	14	mark	_	_
14	put	put	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	ccomp	_	_
15	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	witch	witch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	_
17	into	into	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	Amoru	Amoru	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	obl:unmarked	_	_
21	born	bear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
24	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	27	mark	_	_
25	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
26	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	27	aux	_	_
27	take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	parataxis	_	_
28	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	obj	_	_
29	to	to	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
30	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	31	nmod:poss	_	_
31	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	’s	's	PART	POS	_	31	case	_	_
33	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	_
34	so	so	SCONJ	IN	ExtPos=SCONJ	40	mark	_	_
35	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	34	fixed	_	_
36	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	40	nsubj	_	_
37	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	40	aux	_	_
38	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	40	advmod	_	_
39	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	40	advmod	_	_
40	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	27	advcl	_	_
41	anything	anything	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	40	obj	_	_
42	contrary	contrary	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	41	amod	_	_
43	to	to	SCONJ	IN	_	47	mark	_	_
44	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	45	det	_	_
45	chief	chief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	’s	's	PART	POS	_	45	case	_	_
47	protecting	protect	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	40	advcl	_	_
48	ju	ju	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	50	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	48	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	ju	ju	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Elilli |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **dispose** | to-infinitive | the safest way *not said here* |  |  |  |  | of wives *= wife* | vn addict-96 «NP V NP PP.Theme»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **is** | past | the safest way |  |  | Amoru |  | a witch *obj*; put *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **bear** | participle | Elilli *not said here* | the last |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Experiencer |
| 5 | **take** | would | chief | wives *= wife* |  | chief's father's house |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent they=Theme to house=Destination |
| 6 | **not** **do** | would | wives *= wife* | anything |  |  | then |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent anything=Eventuality |
| 7 | **protect** | gerund | wives *= wife* *not said here* | ju ju |  |  |  | the chief *nmod:poss* | vn defend-72.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent ju=Beneficiary |

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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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