---
title: Amoru then got his big brother to go into the bush with him so that… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: Amoru then got his big brother to go into the bush with him so that no one could hear what he said, and then told him how he had been made a witch in secret and was compelled to attend the meetings where the dead bodies were eaten, but he explained that he had not eaten any of the human flesh, havin
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xii.--concerning the Okuni Witches and Cannibalism., sentence 67

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Amoru then got his big brother to go into the bush with him so that no one could hear what he said, and then told him how he had been made a witch in secret and was compelled to attend the meetings where the dead bodies were eaten, but he explained that he had not eaten any of the human flesh, having hidden it in the fireplace.

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**Who acts:** Amoru, big brother, one · **What happens:** get, go, hear, say, tell, make · **To what, where:** big brother, bush, Amoru, secret, meetings, dead bodies · **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, big brother, one), 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:pg70959:9:67
# text = Amoru then got his big brother to go into the bush with him so that no one could hear what he said, and then told him how he had been made a witch in secret and was compelled to attend the meetings where the dead bodies were eaten, but he explained that he had not eaten any of the human flesh, having hidden it in the fireplace.
1	Amoru	Amoru	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
2	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	3	advmod	_	_
3	got	get	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
5	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	brother	brother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
9	into	into	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	bush	bush	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
12	with	with	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nmod	_	_
14	so	so	SCONJ	IN	ExtPos=SCONJ	19	mark	_	_
15	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	14	fixed	_	_
16	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	17	det	_	_
17	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nsubj	_	_
18	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
19	hear	hear	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	advcl	_	_
20	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	22	obj	_	_
21	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
22	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
25	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	26	advmod	_	_
26	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
27	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	iobj	_	_
28	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	32	advmod	_	_
29	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
30	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	32	aux	_	_
31	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	32	aux:pass	_	_
32	made	make	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	26	ccomp	_	_
33	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	witch	witch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obj	_	_
35	in	in	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
36	secret	secret	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obl	_	_
37	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	39	cc	_	_
38	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	39	aux:pass	_	_
39	compelled	compel	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	32	conj	_	_
40	to	to	PART	TO	_	41	mark	_	_
41	attend	attend	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	39	xcomp	_	_
42	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	43	det	_	_
43	meetings	meeting	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	41	obj	_	_
44	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	49	advmod	_	_
45	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	47	det	_	_
46	dead	dead	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	47	amod	_	_
47	bodies	body	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	49	nsubj:pass	_	_
48	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	49	aux:pass	_	_
49	eaten	eat	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	43	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	53	punct	_	_
51	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	53	cc	_	_
52	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	53	nsubj	_	_
53	explained	explain	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
54	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	58	mark	_	_
55	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	58	nsubj	_	_
56	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	58	aux	_	_
57	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	58	advmod	_	_
58	eaten	eat	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	53	ccomp	_	_
59	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	58	obj	_	_
60	of	of	ADP	IN	_	63	case	_	_
61	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	63	det	_	_
62	human	human	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	63	amod	_	_
63	flesh	flesh	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	59	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
64	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	65	punct	_	_
65	having	have	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	58	advcl	_	_
66	hidden	hide	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	65	xcomp	_	_
67	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	66	obj	_	_
68	in	in	ADP	IN	_	70	case	_	_
69	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	70	det	_	_
70	fireplace	fireplace	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	66	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
71	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **get** | past | Amoru | Amoru's big brother |  |  | then |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **go** | to-infinitive | Amoru's big brother *not said here* |  |  | the bush with Amoru |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme into bush=Initial\_Location |
| 3 | **hear** | could | no one |  |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 4 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Amoru |  |  |  |  | what *obj* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent what=Topic |
| 5 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | Amoru *not said here* |  | Amoru |  | then |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP what S»: agent=Agent he=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 6 | **make** | past · perfect · passive |  | Amoru |  | secret |  | a witch *obj* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP NP»: subject=Beneficiary witch=Product |
| 7 | **compel** | past · passive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: clause=Result |
| 8 | **attend** | to-infinitive |  | the meetings |  |  |  |  | vn attend-107.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme meeting=Goal |
| 9 | **eat** | past · passive |  | the dead bodies |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 10 | **explain** *speech: assert* | past | Amoru |  |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 11 | **not** **eat** | past · perfect | Amoru | any of the human flesh |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent any=Patient |
| 12 | **have** | gerund | Amoru *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 13 | **hide** | participle | Amoru *not said here* | body |  | the fireplace |  |  | vn concealment-16-1 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent it=Patient in fireplace=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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