---
title: The next night when he heard the witches play in the town, he was co… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: The next night when he heard the witches play in the town, he was compelled by the witch inside him to go and join them, and found when he got to the cooking place that a man had been killed and hung up to the branch of a tree by his neck. Who acts: Amoru, witches, witch. A sentence of «Ikom folk st
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xii.--concerning the Okuni Witches and Cannibalism., sentence 51

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The next night when he heard the witches play in the town, he was compelled by the witch inside him to go and join them, and found when he got to the cooking place that a man had been killed and hung up to the branch of a tree by his neck.

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**Who acts:** Amoru, witches, witch · **What happens:** hear, play, compel, go, join, find · **To what, where:** town, Amoru, houses, cooking place · **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 (Amoru, witches, witch), 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:pg70959:9:51
# text = The next night when he heard the witches play in the town, he was compelled by the witch inside him to go and join them, and found when he got to the cooking place that a man had been killed and hung up to the branch of a tree by his neck.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	next	next	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl:unmarked	_	_
4	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	6	advmod	_	_
5	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	heard	hear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	witches	witch	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nsubj	_	_
9	play	play	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	ccomp	_	_
10	in	in	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	town	town	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
14	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
15	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	aux:pass	_	_
16	compelled	compel	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	conj	_	_
17	by	by	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	witch	witch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obl	_	_
20	inside	inside	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nmod	_	_
22	to	to	PART	TO	_	23	mark	_	_
23	go	go	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	16	ccomp	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
25	join	join	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	23	conj	_	_
26	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
29	found	find	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
30	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	32	advmod	_	_
31	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
32	got	get	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	ccomp	_	_
33	to	to	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
35	cooking	cooking	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	compound	_	_
36	place	place	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obl	_	_
37	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	42	nsubj:pass	_	_
38	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
39	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	nsubj:pass	_	_
40	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	42	aux	_	_
41	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	42	aux:pass	_	_
42	killed	kill	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	36	acl:relcl	_	_
43	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	44	cc	_	_
44	hung	hang	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	42	conj	_	_
45	up	up	ADP	RP	_	44	compound:prt	_	_
46	to	to	ADP	IN	_	48	case	_	_
47	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	48	det	_	_
48	branch	branch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	44	obl	_	_
49	of	of	ADP	IN	_	51	case	_	_
50	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	51	det	_	_
51	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	nmod	_	_
52	by	by	ADP	IN	_	54	case	_	_
53	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	54	nmod:poss	_	_
54	neck	neck	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	44	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
55	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hear** | past | Amoru |  |  |  | night |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 2 | **play** | present | the witches |  |  | the town |  |  | vn performance-26.7-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **compel** | past · passive | the witch inside door | Amoru |  |  |  |  | vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent subject=Patient clause=Result |
| 4 | **go** | to-infinitive | the witch inside door *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **join** | infinitive | the witch inside door *not said here* | houses *= house* |  |  |  |  | vn mix-22.1-2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Patient |
| 6 | **find** | past | Amoru *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 7 | **get** | past | Amoru |  |  |  |  | to the cooking place *result* | vn convert-26.6.2 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Patient to place=Result |
| 8 | **kill** | past · perfect · passive |  | the cooking place |  |  |  | a man *nsubj:pass* | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 9 | **hang up** | participle |  |  |  |  |  | to the branch of a tree; by Amoru's neck | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent by neck=Location |

<!-- .note -->
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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