--- title: Every night for a month and a half the boy attended the feast of the… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics description: Every night for a month and a half the boy attended the feast of the witches, and either a man or a woman was always killed and eaten; but Amoru always took his piece of flesh home and placed it with the other meat. Who acts: boy, Amoru. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elp --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/9/56/) [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/) / 56 # Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xii.--concerning the Okuni Witches and Cannibalism., sentence 56 Every night for a month and a half the boy attended the feast of the witches, and either a man or a woman was always killed and eaten; but Amoru always took his piece of flesh home and placed it with the other meat. **Who acts:** boy, Amoru · **What happens:** attend, kill, eat, take, place · **To what, where:** feast, man, piece 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 (boy, Amoru), 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:pg70959:9:56 # text = Every night for a month and a half the boy attended the feast of the witches, and either a man or a woman was always killed and eaten; but Amoru always took his piece of flesh home and placed it with the other meat. 1 Every every DET DT PronType=Tot 2 det _ _ 2 night night NOUN NN Number=Sing 11 obl:unmarked _ _ 3 for for ADP IN _ 5 case _ _ 4 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 5 det _ _ 5 month month NOUN NN Number=Sing 2 nmod _ _ 6 and and CCONJ CC _ 8 cc _ _ 7 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 8 det _ _ 8 half half NOUN NN Number=Sing|NumForm=Word|NumType=Frac 2 conj _ _ 9 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 10 det _ _ 10 boy boy NOUN NN Number=Sing 11 nsubj _ _ 11 attended attend VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 12 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 13 det _ _ 13 feast feast NOUN NN Number=Sing 11 obj _ _ 14 of of ADP IN _ 16 case _ _ 15 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 16 det _ _ 16 witches witch NOUN NNS Number=Plur 13 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 17 , , PUNCT , _ 27 punct _ _ 18 and and CCONJ CC _ 27 cc _ _ 19 either either CCONJ CC _ 21 cc:preconj _ _ 20 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 21 det _ _ 21 man man NOUN NN Number=Sing 27 nsubj _ _ 22 or or CCONJ CC _ 24 cc _ _ 23 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 24 det _ _ 24 woman woman NOUN NN Number=Sing 21 conj _ _ 25 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 27 aux:pass _ _ 26 always always ADV RB PronType=Tot 27 advmod _ _ 27 killed kill VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 11 conj _ _ 28 and and CCONJ CC _ 29 cc _ _ 29 eaten eat VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 27 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 30 ; ; PUNCT : _ 34 punct _ _ 31 but but CCONJ CC _ 34 cc _ _ 32 Amoru Amoru PROPN NNP Number=Sing 34 nsubj _ _ 33 always always ADV RB PronType=Tot 34 advmod _ _ 34 took take VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 11 conj _ _ 35 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 36 nmod:poss _ _ 36 piece piece NOUN NN Number=Sing 34 obj _ _ 37 of of ADP IN _ 38 case _ _ 38 flesh flesh NOUN NN Number=Sing 36 nmod _ _ 39 home home ADV RB _ 34 advmod _ _ 40 and and CCONJ CC _ 41 cc _ _ 41 placed place VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 34 conj _ _ 42 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 41 obj _ _ 43 with with ADP IN _ 46 case _ _ 44 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 46 det _ _ 45 other other ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 46 amod _ _ 46 meat meat NOUN NN Number=Sing 41 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 47 . . PUNCT . _ 11 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **attend** | past | the boy | the feast of the witches | | | night | | vn attend-107.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme feast=Goal | | 2 | **kill** | past · passive | | a man or a woman | | | | always *property* | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme | | 3 | **eat** | participle | | | | | | | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 4 | **take** | past | Amoru | Amoru's piece of flesh | | | | always, home *property* | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent piece=Theme | | 5 | **place** | past | Amoru *not said here* | piece | | | | with the other meat | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V PP.destination NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme | 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 55](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/9/55/) - next →: [sentence 57](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/9/57/) - ↑ back to [Xii.--concerning the Okuni Witches and Cannibalism.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/9/)