--- title: At first Nkanyan could not believe his young brother’s story, so Amo… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics description: At first Nkanyan could not believe his young brother’s story, so Amoru brought him to the place where he had hidden the meat, and showed it to him asking him not to tell anyone as he had thought of a plan. Who acts: Amoru. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrel --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/9/69/) [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/) / 69 # Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xii.--concerning the Okuni Witches and Cannibalism., sentence 69 At first Nkanyan could not believe his young brother’s story, so Amoru brought him to the place where he had hidden the meat, and showed it to him asking him not to tell anyone as he had thought of a plan. **Who acts:** Amoru · **What happens:** not believe, bring, hide, show, ask, not tell · **To what, where:** story, first Nkanyan, man, place, meat, Amoru · **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 (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:pg70959:9:69 # text = At first Nkanyan could not believe his young brother’s story, so Amoru brought him to the place where he had hidden the meat, and showed it to him asking him not to tell anyone as he had thought of a plan. 1 At at ADP IN _ 3 case _ _ 2 first first ADJ JJ Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord 3 amod _ _ 3 Nkanyan Nkanyan PROPN NNP Number=Sing 6 obl _ _ 4 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 6 aux _ _ 5 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 6 advmod _ _ 6 believe believe VERB VB Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 7 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 9 nmod:poss _ _ 8 young young ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 9 amod _ _ 9 brother brother NOUN NN Number=Sing 11 nmod:poss _ SpaceAfter=No 10 ’s 's PART POS _ 9 case _ _ 11 story story NOUN NN Number=Sing 6 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 12 , , PUNCT , _ 15 punct _ _ 13 so so ADV RB _ 15 advmod _ _ 14 Amoru Amoru PROPN NNP Number=Sing 15 nsubj _ _ 15 brought bring VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 6 conj _ _ 16 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 15 obj _ _ 17 to to ADP IN _ 19 case _ _ 18 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 19 det _ _ 19 place place NOUN NN Number=Sing 15 obl _ _ 20 where where ADV WRB PronType=Rel 23 advmod _ _ 21 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 23 nsubj _ _ 22 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 23 aux _ _ 23 hidden hide VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 19 acl:relcl _ _ 24 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 25 det _ _ 25 meat meat NOUN NN Number=Sing 23 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 26 , , PUNCT , _ 28 punct _ _ 27 and and CCONJ CC _ 28 cc _ _ 28 showed show VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 6 conj _ _ 29 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 28 obj _ _ 30 to to ADP IN _ 31 case _ _ 31 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 28 obl _ _ 32 asking ask VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 28 advcl _ _ 33 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 32 obj _ _ 34 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 36 advmod _ _ 35 to to PART TO _ 36 mark _ _ 36 tell tell VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 32 xcomp _ _ 37 anyone anyone PRON NN Number=Sing|PronType=Ind 36 obj _ _ 38 as as SCONJ IN _ 41 mark _ _ 39 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 41 nsubj _ _ 40 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 41 aux _ _ 41 thought think VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 36 advcl _ _ 42 of of ADP IN _ 44 case _ _ 43 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 44 det _ _ 44 plan plan NOUN NN Number=Sing 41 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 45 . . PUNCT . _ 6 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **not** **believe** | could | | Nkanyan's young brother's story | | first Nkanyan | | | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer story=Stimulus | | 2 | **bring** | past | Amoru | man | | the place | | | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent he=Theme to place=Destination | | 3 | **hide** | past · perfect | Amoru | the meat | | | | | vn concealment-16-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent meat=Patient | | 4 | **show** | past | | meat | Amoru | | | | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent it=Topic to he=Recipient | | 5 | **ask** *speech: ask* | gerund | | | Amoru | | | | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S\_INF»: agent=Agent he=Recipient clause=Topic | | 6 | **not** **tell** *speech: assert* *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | | | anyone | | | | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent anyone=Recipient | | 7 | **think** *speech: other* | past · perfect | Amoru | | | | | of a plan | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | 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 68](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/9/68/) - next →: [sentence 70](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/9/70/) - ↑ back to [Xii.--concerning the Okuni Witches and Cannibalism.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/9/)