---
title: His body was then burnt all except the skull which would not burn, s… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: His body was then burnt all except the skull which would not burn, so the people cut it into pieces with an axe and threw the broken pieces on the fire. Who acts: skull, people. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xii.--concerning the Okuni Witches and Can
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xii.--concerning the Okuni Witches and Cannibalism., sentence 98

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His body was then burnt all except the skull which would not burn, so the people cut it into pieces with an axe and threw the broken pieces on the fire.

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**Who acts:** skull, people · **What happens:** burnt, not burn, cut, throw, break · **To what, where:** body, pieces, broken pieces, fire

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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 (skull, people), 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:pg70959:9:98
# text = His body was then burnt all except the skull which would not burn, so the people cut it into pieces with an axe and threw the broken pieces on the fire.
1	His	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	body	body	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux:pass	_	_
4	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	5	advmod	_	_
5	burnt	burnt	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	5	obj	_	_
7	except	except	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	skull	skull	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
10	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	13	nsubj	_	_
11	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
12	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	13	advmod	_	_
13	burn	burn	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
15	so	so	ADV	RB	_	18	advmod	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	nsubj	_	_
18	cut	cut	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
19	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	obj	_	_
20	into	into	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	pieces	piece	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	obl	_	_
22	with	with	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	axe	axe	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
26	threw	throw	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	conj	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
28	broken	break	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	29	amod	_	_
29	pieces	piece	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	26	obj	_	_
30	on	on	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	fire	fire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **burnt** | past · passive |  | chief's body |  |  | then | except the skull | tree rules |
| 2 | **not** **burn** | would | the skull |  |  |  |  |  | vn light\_emission-43.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **cut** | past | the people | body |  |  |  | into pieces *result*; with a axe | vn cut-21.1-1 «NP V NP PP.result PP.instrument»: agent=Agent it=Patient into piece=Result with axe=Instrument |
| 4 | **throw** | past | the people *not said here* | the broken pieces |  | the fire |  |  | vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent piece=Theme on fire=Destination |
| 5 | **break** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «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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