Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xii.--concerning the Okuni Witches and Cannibalism., sentence 38

Elilli said that the safest way to dispose of them all was to put a witch into Amoru the last born, and that he would take them to his father’s house so that they would not then do anything contrary to the chief’s protecting ju-ju.

Who acts: Elilli, safest way, chief, wives · What happens: say, dispose, be, bear, take, not do · To what, where: Amoru, last, wives, house, anything, ju ju · 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 (Elilli, safest way, chief, wives), 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	Elilli	Elilli	PROPN	Number=Sing	2 said	nsubj
2	said	say	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	that	that	SCONJ	_	14 put	mark
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 way	det
5	safest	safe	ADJ	Degree=Sup	6 way	amod
6	way	way	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 put	nsubj:outer
7	to	to	PART	_	8 dispose	mark
8	dispose	dispose	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	6 way	acl
9	of	of	ADP	_	10 them	case
10	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	8 dispose	obl
11	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	10 them	nmod:unmarked
12	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	14 put	cop
13	to	to	PART	_	14 put	mark
14	put	put	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 said	ccomp
15	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	16 witch	det
16	witch	witch	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 put	obj
17	into	into	ADP	_	18 Amoru	case
18	Amoru	Amoru	PROPN	Number=Sing	14 put	obl
19	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	20 last	det
20	last	last	ADJ	Degree=Pos	21 born	obl:unmarked
21	born	bear	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 said	conj
22	,	,	PUNCT	_	27 take	punct
23	and	and	CCONJ	_	27 take	cc
24	that	that	SCONJ	_	27 take	mark
25	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	27 take	nsubj
26	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	27 take	aux
27	take	take	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 said	parataxis
28	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	27 take	obj
29	to	to	ADP	_	33 house	case
30	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	31 father	nmod:poss
31	father	father	NOUN	Number=Sing	33 house	nmod:poss
32	’s	's	PART	_	31 father	case
33	house	house	NOUN	Number=Sing	27 take	obl
34	so	so	SCONJ	ExtPos=SCONJ	40 do	mark
35	that	that	SCONJ	_	34 so	fixed
36	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	40 do	nsubj
37	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	40 do	aux
38	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	40 do	advmod
39	then	then	ADV	PronType=Dem	40 do	advmod
40	do	do	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	27 take	advcl
41	anything	anything	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Ind	40 do	obj
42	contrary	contrary	ADJ	Degree=Pos	41 anything	amod
43	to	to	SCONJ	_	47 protecting	mark
44	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	45 chief	det
45	chief	chief	NOUN	Number=Sing	47 protecting	nmod:poss
46	’s	's	PART	_	45 chief	case
47	protecting	protect	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	40 do	advcl
48	ju	ju	NOUN	Number=Sing	50 ju	compound
49	-	-	PUNCT	_	48 ju	punct
50	ju	ju	NOUN	Number=Sing	47 protecting	obj
51	.	.	PUNCT	_	2 said	punct

Pragmatics

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	say speech: assert	past	Elilli					vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V how S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
2	dispose	to-infinitive	the safest way not said here				of wives = wife	vn addict-96 «NP V NP PP.Theme»: agent=Agent
3	is	past	the safest way		Amoru		a witch obj; put property	tree rules
4	bear	participle	Elilli not said here	the last				vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Experiencer
5	take	would	chief	wives = wife	chief's father's house			vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent they=Theme to house=Destination
6	not do	would	wives = wife	anything		then		vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent anything=Eventuality
7	protect	gerund	wives = wife not said here	ju ju			the chief nmod:poss	vn defend-72.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent ju=Beneficiary

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, Xii.--concerning the Okuni Witches and Cannibalism., sentence 38

The tree

Pragmatics

Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xii.--concerning the Okuni Witches and Cannibalism., sentence 38