---
title: It is perhaps noteworthy that these people, who are pure cannibals,… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: It is perhaps noteworthy that these people, who are pure cannibals, all file their teeth to a sharp point. Who acts: author, people. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Opening, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Opening, sentence 117

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It is perhaps noteworthy that these people, who are pure cannibals, all file their teeth to a sharp point.

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**Who acts:** author, people · **What happens:** be, file · **To what, where:** pure cannibals, teeth, sharp point

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This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Opening. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (author, 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:pg70959:1:117
# text = It is perhaps noteworthy that these people, who are pure cannibals, all file their teeth to a sharp point.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	perhaps	perhaps	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	noteworthy	noteworthy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
6	these	this	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	7	det	_	_
7	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
9	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	12	nsubj	_	_
10	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	12	cop	_	_
11	pure	pure	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	cannibals	cannibal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
14	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	15	advmod	_	_
15	file	file	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
16	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	17	nmod:poss	_	_
17	teeth	tooth	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	obj	_	_
18	to	to	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
19	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
20	sharp	sharp	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	amod	_	_
21	point	point	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | author |  |  |  |  | this people and pure cannibals *obl*; noteworthy, perhaps *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **is a** | present | this people and pure cannibals | pure cannibals |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **file** | present |  | people's teeth |  | a sharp point |  |  | vn wipe\_instr-10.4.2 «NP V NP PP.initial\_location PP.destination»: agent=Agent tooth=Theme to point=Destination |

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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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