---
title: Chief Elullo told the boy that they were going to eat the dead man a… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: Chief Elullo told the boy that they were going to eat the dead man as they had eaten the man the previous night, and that he should have his share as before. Who acts: Chief, houses, man. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xii.--concerning the Okuni Witch
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xii.--concerning the Okuni Witches and Cannibalism., sentence 52

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Chief Elullo told the boy that they were going to eat the dead man as they had eaten the man the previous night, and that he should have his share as before.

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**Who acts:** Chief, houses, man · **What happens:** tell, go, eat, have, share · **To what, where:** boy, dead man, man, share · **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 (Chief, houses, man), 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:pg70959:9:52
# text = Chief Elullo told the boy that they were going to eat the dead man as they had eaten the man the previous night, and that he should have his share as before.
1	Chief	Chief	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
2	Elullo	Elullo	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	1	flat	_	_
3	told	tell	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	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	iobj	_	_
6	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
7	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
8	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
9	going	go	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	ccomp	_	_
10	to	to	PART	TO	_	11	mark	_	_
11	eat	eat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	xcomp	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
13	dead	dead	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	_
15	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	18	mark	_	_
16	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
17	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
18	eaten	eat	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	11	advcl	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obj	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
22	previous	previous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
23	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
26	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	29	mark	_	_
27	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
28	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	29	aux	_	_
29	have	have	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	conj	_	_
30	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	31	nmod:poss	_	_
31	share	share	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obj	_	_
32	as	as	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
33	before	before	ADV	RB	_	29	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | Chief |  | the boy |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent boy=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 2 | **go** | past · progressive | houses *= house* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7 «NP V S-Quote»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **eat** | to-infinitive | houses *= house* *not said here* | the dead man |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent man=Patient |
| 4 | **eat** | past · perfect | houses *= house* | the man |  |  | night |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent man=Patient |
| 5 | **have** | should | man | man's share |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent share=Patient |
| 6 | **share** |  | man |  |  |  |  |  | nom share «possession transitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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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