Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 3, sentence 61

He then told some of the slaves to carry their master’s body to the town, but before this was done he warned all the slaves to be very careful not to keep any of their dead master’s property in their own houses, as they might be accused of stealing, so he advised them all to send their things to their different friends’ houses where they could be kept for them without anyone knowing.

Who acts: Oga, slaves, anyone · What happens: tell, carry, do, warn, be, not keep · To what, where: slaves, body, town, this, any, own houses · Speech: someone speaks here

This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Oga, slaves, anyone), 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

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	He	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 told	nsubj
2	then	then	ADV	PronType=Dem	3 told	advmod
3	told	tell	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	some	some	DET	PronType=Ind	7 slaves	det
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 slaves	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 slaves	det
7	slaves	slave	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 told	obj
8	to	to	PART	_	9 carry	mark
9	carry	carry	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 told	xcomp
10	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	11 master	nmod:poss
11	master	master	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 body	nmod:poss
12	’s	's	PART	_	11 master	case
13	body	body	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 carry	obj
14	to	to	ADP	_	16 town	case
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 town	det
16	town	town	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 carry	obl
17	,	,	PUNCT	_	24 warned	punct
18	but	but	CCONJ	_	24 warned	cc
19	before	before	SCONJ	_	22 done	mark
20	this	this	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	22 done	nsubj:pass
21	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	22 done	aux:pass
22	done	do	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	24 warned	advcl
23	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	24 warned	nsubj
24	warned	warn	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 told	conj
25	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	27 slaves	det:predet
26	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	27 slaves	det
27	slaves	slave	NOUN	Number=Plur	24 warned	obj
28	to	to	PART	_	31 careful	mark
29	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	31 careful	cop
30	very	very	ADV	_	31 careful	advmod
31	careful	careful	ADJ	Degree=Pos	24 warned	ccomp
32	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	34 keep	advmod
33	to	to	PART	_	34 keep	mark
34	keep	keep	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	31 careful	parataxis
35	any	any	DET	PronType=Ind	34 keep	obj
36	of	of	ADP	_	41 property	case
37	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	39 master	nmod:poss
38	dead	dead	ADJ	Degree=Pos	39 master	amod
39	master	master	NOUN	Number=Sing	41 property	nmod:poss
40	’s	's	PART	_	39 master	case
41	property	property	NOUN	Number=Sing	35 any	nmod
42	in	in	ADP	_	45 houses	case
43	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	45 houses	nmod:poss
44	own	own	ADJ	Degree=Pos	45 houses	amod
45	houses	house	NOUN	Number=Plur	34 keep	obl
46	,	,	PUNCT	_	51 accused	punct
47	as	as	SCONJ	_	51 accused	mark
48	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	51 accused	nsubj:pass
49	might	might	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	51 accused	aux
50	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	51 accused	aux:pass
51	accused	accuse	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	34 keep	advcl
52	of	of	ADP	_	53 stealing	case
53	stealing	stealing	NOUN	Number=Sing	51 accused	obl
54	,	,	PUNCT	_	57 advised	punct
55	so	so	ADV	_	57 advised	advmod
56	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	57 advised	nsubj
57	advised	advise	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 told	conj
58	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	57 advised	obj
59	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	58 them	nmod:unmarked
60	to	to	PART	_	61 send	mark
61	send	send	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	57 advised	xcomp
62	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	63 things	nmod:poss
63	things	thing	NOUN	Number=Plur	61 send	obj
64	to	to	ADP	_	69 houses	case
65	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	67 friends	nmod:poss
66	different	different	ADJ	Degree=Pos	67 friends	amod
67	friends	friend	NOUN	Number=Plur	69 houses	nmod:poss
68	’	's	PART	_	67 friends	case
69	houses	house	NOUN	Number=Plur	61 send	obl
70	where	where	ADV	PronType=Rel	74 kept	advmod
71	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	74 kept	nsubj:pass
72	could	could	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	74 kept	aux
73	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	74 kept	aux:pass
74	kept	keep	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	69 houses	acl:relcl
75	for	for	ADP	_	76 them	case
76	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	74 kept	obl
77	without	without	ADP	_	78 anyone	case
78	anyone	anyone	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Ind	74 kept	obl:agent
79	knowing	know	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	78 anyone	acl
80	.	.	PUNCT	_	3 told	punct

Pragmatics

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	tell speech: assert	past	Oga	some slaves		then		vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Agent slave=Recipient clause=Topic
2	carry not said to happen	to-infinitive	some slaves not said here	slaves's master's body	the town			vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent body=Theme to town=Destination
3	do	past · passive		this				vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Eventuality
4	warn speech: warn	past	Oga	all slaves				vn advise-37.9-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent slave=Recipient
5	is	to-infinitive					careful property	tree rules
6	not keep	to-infinitive		any of slaves's dead master's property	slaves's own houses			vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent any=Theme in house=Location
7	accuse	might · passive		slaves = slave			of stealing	vn suspect-81 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: subject=Theme of stealing=Attribute
8	advise speech: other	past	Oga	slaves = slave				vn advise-37.9-1 «NP V NP how S_INF»: agent=Agent they=Recipient clause=Topic
9	send not said to happen	to-infinitive	slaves = slave not said here	slaves's things	slaves's different friends's houses			vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent thing=Theme to house=Destination
10	keep	could · passive	anyone	slaves = slave			for friends = friend	vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme
11	know	gerund						vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer

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.

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🌲 Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 3, sentence 61

The tree

Pragmatics

Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 3, sentence 61