---
title: Chief Elullo said it was Amoru’s turn to provide a body for food and… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: Chief Elullo said it was Amoru’s turn to provide a body for food and asked him who he was going to give. Who acts: Chief, bed. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xii.--concerning the Okuni Witches and Cannibalism., with its dependency tree and the pragmat
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xii.--concerning the Okuni Witches and Cannibalism., sentence 77

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Chief Elullo said it was Amoru’s turn to provide a body for food and asked him who he was going to give.

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**Who acts:** Chief, bed · **What happens:** say, be, provide, ask, go, give · **To what, where:** turn, body, Amoru · **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, bed), 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:pg70959:9:77
# text = Chief Elullo said it was Amoru’s turn to provide a body for food and asked him who he was going to give.
1	Chief	Chief	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
2	Elullo	Elullo	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	1	flat	_	_
3	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
5	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
6	Amoru	Amoru	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	’s	's	PART	POS	_	6	case	_	_
8	turn	turn	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	ccomp	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	provide	provide	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	acl	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	body	body	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	_
13	for	for	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nmod	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
16	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
17	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	iobj	_	_
18	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	21	nsubj	_	_
19	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
20	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	_
21	going	go	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	16	ccomp	_	_
22	to	to	PART	TO	_	23	mark	_	_
23	give	give	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Chief |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is a** | past | bed | Amoru's turn |  |  |  | Amoru *nmod:poss* | tree rules |
| 3 | **provide** | to-infinitive | Chief *not said here* | a body |  |  |  | for food | vn ensure-99 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: agent=Precondition body=Theme for food=Beneficiary |
| 4 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | Chief *not said here* |  | Amoru |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S»: agent=Agent he=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 5 | **go** | past · progressive |  |  |  |  |  | who *nsubj*; Amoru *nsubj* | vn say-37.7 «NP V S-Quote»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 6 | **give** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn break\_down-45.8 «NP V»: agent=Patient |

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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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