--- title: One night when the boy went to the feast the witches told him that i… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics description: One night when the boy went to the feast the witches told him that it was his turn to provide a body for food, but Amoru said he was too young and had no one to give. Who acts: boy, witches, feast, Amoru. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xii.--concernin --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/9/58/) [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/) / 58 # Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xii.--concerning the Okuni Witches and Cannibalism., sentence 58 One night when the boy went to the feast the witches told him that it was his turn to provide a body for food, but Amoru said he was too young and had no one to give. **Who acts:** boy, witches, feast, Amoru · **What happens:** go, tell, be, provide, say, have · **To what, where:** feast, boy, turn, body, one · **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 (boy, witches, feast, 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:pg70959:9:58 # text = One night when the boy went to the feast the witches told him that it was his turn to provide a body for food, but Amoru said he was too young and had no one to give. 1 One one NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 2 nummod _ _ 2 night night NOUN NN Number=Sing 6 obl:unmarked _ _ 3 when when ADV WRB PronType=Int 6 advmod _ _ 4 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 5 det _ _ 5 boy boy NOUN NN Number=Sing 6 nsubj _ _ 6 went go VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 7 to to ADP IN _ 9 case _ _ 8 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 9 det _ _ 9 feast feast NOUN NN Number=Sing 6 obl _ _ 10 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 11 det _ _ 11 witches witch NOUN NNS Number=Plur 12 nsubj _ _ 12 told tell VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 6 advcl _ _ 13 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 12 iobj _ _ 14 that that SCONJ IN _ 18 mark _ _ 15 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 18 nsubj _ _ 16 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 18 cop _ _ 17 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 18 nmod:poss _ _ 18 turn turn NOUN NN Number=Sing 12 ccomp _ _ 19 to to PART TO _ 20 mark _ _ 20 provide provide VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 12 ccomp _ _ 21 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 22 det _ _ 22 body body NOUN NN Number=Sing 20 obj _ _ 23 for for ADP IN _ 24 case _ _ 24 food food NOUN NN Number=Sing 20 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 25 , , PUNCT , _ 28 punct _ _ 26 but but CCONJ CC _ 28 cc _ _ 27 Amoru Amoru PROPN NNP Number=Sing 28 nsubj _ _ 28 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 6 conj _ _ 29 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 32 nsubj _ _ 30 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 32 cop _ _ 31 too too ADV RB _ 32 advmod _ _ 32 young young ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 28 ccomp _ _ 33 and and CCONJ CC _ 34 cc _ _ 34 had have VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 6 conj _ _ 35 no no DET DT PronType=Neg 36 det _ _ 36 one one NOUN NN Number=Sing 34 obj _ _ 37 to to PART TO _ 38 mark _ _ 38 give give VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 36 acl _ SpaceAfter=No 39 . . PUNCT . _ 6 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **go** | past | the boy | | | the feast | night | | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to feast=Initial\_Location | | 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | the witches | | boy | | | | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent he=Recipient clause=Topic | | 3 | **is a** | past | feast | boy's turn | | | | boy *nmod:poss* | tree rules | | 4 | **provide** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | | a body | | | | for food | vn ensure-99 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: agent=Precondition body=Theme for food=Beneficiary | | 5 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Amoru | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent | | 6 | **is** | past | Amoru | | | | | young *property* | tree rules | | 7 | **have** | past | the boy *not said here* | no one | | | | | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent one=Patient | | 8 | **give** | to-infinitive | the boy *not said here* | no one *not said here* | | | | | vn break\_down-45.8 «NP V»: agent=Patient | 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 57](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/9/57/) - next →: [sentence 59](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/9/59/) - ↑ back to [Xii.--concerning the Okuni Witches and Cannibalism.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/9/)