--- title: Chief Elullo then cautioned the boy never to tell anyone what he saw… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics description: Chief Elullo then cautioned the boy never to tell anyone what he saw, and then took him to the place where they cooked human food, and gave him a piece of flesh and some yam to eat. Who acts: Chief, people. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xii.--concern --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/9/47/) [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/) / 47 # Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xii.--concerning the Okuni Witches and Cannibalism., sentence 47 Chief Elullo then cautioned the boy never to tell anyone what he saw, and then took him to the place where they cooked human food, and gave him a piece of flesh and some yam to eat. **Who acts:** Chief, people · **What happens:** caution, not tell, see, take, cook, give · **To what, where:** boy, anyone, chief, place, human food, piece · **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, people), 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:pg70959:9:47 # text = Chief Elullo then cautioned the boy never to tell anyone what he saw, and then took him to the place where they cooked human food, and gave him a piece of flesh and some yam to eat. 1 Chief Chief PROPN NNP Number=Sing 4 nsubj _ _ 2 Elullo Elullo PROPN NNP Number=Sing 1 flat _ _ 3 then then ADV RB PronType=Dem 4 advmod _ _ 4 cautioned caution VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 5 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 6 det _ _ 6 boy boy NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 obj _ _ 7 never never ADV RB PronType=Neg 9 advmod _ _ 8 to to PART TO _ 9 mark _ _ 9 tell tell VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 4 advcl _ _ 10 anyone anyone PRON NN Number=Sing|PronType=Ind 9 obj _ _ 11 what what PRON WP PronType=Int 13 obj _ _ 12 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 13 nsubj _ _ 13 saw see VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 9 ccomp _ SpaceAfter=No 14 , , PUNCT , _ 17 punct _ _ 15 and and CCONJ CC _ 17 cc _ _ 16 then then ADV RB PronType=Dem 17 advmod _ _ 17 took take VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 conj _ _ 18 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 17 obj _ _ 19 to to ADP IN _ 21 case _ _ 20 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 21 det _ _ 21 place place NOUN NN Number=Sing 17 obl _ _ 22 where where ADV WRB PronType=Rel 24 advmod _ _ 23 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 24 nsubj _ _ 24 cooked cook VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 21 acl:relcl _ _ 25 human human ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 26 amod _ _ 26 food food NOUN NN Number=Sing 24 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 27 , , PUNCT , _ 29 punct _ _ 28 and and CCONJ CC _ 29 cc _ _ 29 gave give VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 17 conj _ _ 30 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 29 iobj _ _ 31 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 32 det _ _ 32 piece piece NOUN NN Number=Sing 29 obj _ _ 33 of of ADP IN _ 34 case _ _ 34 flesh flesh NOUN NN Number=Sing 32 nmod _ _ 35 and and CCONJ CC _ 37 cc _ _ 36 some some DET DT PronType=Ind 37 det _ _ 37 yam yam NOUN NN Number=Sing 32 conj _ _ 38 to to PART TO _ 39 mark _ _ 39 eat eat VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 37 acl _ SpaceAfter=No 40 . . PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **caution** *speech: other* | past | Chief | | the boy | | then | | vn advise-37.9-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent boy=Recipient | | 2 | **not** **tell** *speech: assert* | to-infinitive | Chief *not said here* | anyone | | | | | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP what S»: agent=Agent anyone=Recipient clause=Topic | | 3 | **see** | past | chief | | | | | what *obj* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer what=Stimulus | | 4 | **take** | past | Chief *not said here* | chief | | the place | then | | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent he=Theme to place=Destination | | 5 | **cook** | past | people | human food | | | | | vn cooking-45.3 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent food=Patient | | 6 | **give** | past | Chief *not said here* | a piece of flesh and some yam | chief | | | | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent he=Recipient piece=Theme | | 7 | **eat** | to-infinitive | Chief *not said here* | | | | | | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | 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 46](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/9/46/) - next →: [sentence 48](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/9/48/) - ↑ back to [Xii.--concerning the Okuni Witches and Cannibalism.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/9/)