--- title: The chief then told the people to take the night calabash with them,… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics description: The chief then told the people to take the night calabash with them, and to bring Nkanyan out of his father’s house, but Amoru asked Elullo to lead the people, as he was the chief of the witches. Who acts: chief, Amoru. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/9/79/) [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/) / 79 # Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xii.--concerning the Okuni Witches and Cannibalism., sentence 79 The chief then told the people to take the night calabash with them, and to bring Nkanyan out of his father’s house, but Amoru asked Elullo to lead the people, as he was the chief of the witches. **Who acts:** chief, Amoru · **What happens:** tell, take, bring, ask, lead, be · **To what, where:** people, night calabash, Nkanyan, house, Elullo · **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 (chief, 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:pg70959:9:79 # text = The chief then told the people to take the night calabash with them, and to bring Nkanyan out of his father’s house, but Amoru asked Elullo to lead the people, as he was the chief of the witches. 1 The the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 2 det _ _ 2 chief chief NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 nsubj _ _ 3 then then ADV RB PronType=Dem 4 advmod _ _ 4 told tell VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 5 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 6 det _ _ 6 people people NOUN NNS Number=Plur 4 iobj _ _ 7 to to PART TO _ 8 mark _ _ 8 take take VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 4 xcomp _ _ 9 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 11 det _ _ 10 night night NOUN NN Number=Sing 11 compound _ _ 11 calabash calabash NOUN NN Number=Sing 8 obj _ _ 12 with with ADP IN _ 13 case _ _ 13 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 8 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 14 , , PUNCT , _ 17 punct _ _ 15 and and CCONJ CC _ 17 cc _ _ 16 to to PART TO _ 17 mark _ _ 17 bring bring VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 8 conj _ _ 18 Nkanyan Nkanyan PROPN NNP Number=Sing 17 obj _ _ 19 out out ADP IN _ 24 case _ _ 20 of of ADP IN _ 24 case _ _ 21 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 22 nmod:poss _ _ 22 father father NOUN NN Number=Sing 24 nmod:poss _ SpaceAfter=No 23 ’s 's PART POS _ 22 case _ _ 24 house house NOUN NN Number=Sing 17 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 25 , , PUNCT , _ 28 punct _ _ 26 but but CCONJ CC _ 28 cc _ _ 27 Amoru Amoru PROPN NNP Number=Sing 28 nsubj _ _ 28 asked ask VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 conj _ _ 29 Elullo Elullo PROPN NNP Number=Sing 28 iobj _ _ 30 to to PART TO _ 31 mark _ _ 31 lead lead VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 28 xcomp _ _ 32 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 33 det _ _ 33 people people NOUN NNS Number=Plur 31 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 34 , , PUNCT , _ 39 punct _ _ 35 as as ADP IN _ 39 case _ _ 36 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 39 nsubj _ _ 37 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 39 cop _ _ 38 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 39 det _ _ 39 chief chief NOUN NN Number=Sing 31 obl _ _ 40 of of ADP IN _ 42 case _ _ 41 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 42 det _ _ 42 witches witch NOUN NNS Number=Plur 39 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 43 . . PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | the chief | | the people | | then | | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent people=Recipient clause=Topic | | 2 | **take** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the chief *not said here* | the night calabash | | | | with people | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent calabash=Theme | | 3 | **bring** | to-infinitive | the chief *not said here* | Nkanyan | | chief's father's house | | | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP PP.initial\_location»: agent=Agent nkanyan=Theme out house=Initial\_Location | | 4 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | Amoru | | Elullo | | | | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S\_INF»: agent=Agent elullo=Recipient clause=Topic | | 5 | **lead** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | Amoru *not said here* | the people | | | | | vn accompany-51.7 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent people=Theme | | 6 | **is** | past | Amoru | | | | | as the chief; of the witches | tree rules | 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 78](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/9/78/) - next →: [sentence 80](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/9/80/) - ↑ back to [Xii.--concerning the Okuni Witches and Cannibalism.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/9/)