---
title: Some of the stories are very old and have been handed down from one… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: Some of the stories are very old and have been handed down from one generation to another, but it is most difficult, almost impossible, to judge with any degree of accuracy how old they really are. Who acts: stories. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Ope
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Opening, sentence 13

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Some of the stories are very old and have been handed down from one generation to another, but it is most difficult, almost impossible, to judge with any degree of accuracy how old they really are.

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**Who acts:** stories · **What happens:** be, hand down, judge · **To what, where:** one generation

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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 (stories), 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:pg70959:1:13
# text = Some of the stories are very old and have been handed down from one generation to another, but it is most difficult, almost impossible, to judge with any degree of accuracy how old they really are.
1	Some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	4	det	_	_
2	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	stories	story	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj	_	_
5	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
6	very	very	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
9	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
10	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	11	aux:pass	_	_
11	handed	hand	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	conj	_	_
12	down	down	ADP	RP	_	11	compound:prt	_	_
13	from	from	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	15	nummod	_	_
15	generation	generation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	_
16	to	to	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	another	another	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	15	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
19	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
20	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	expl	_	_
21	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	23	cop	_	_
22	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	23	advmod	_	_
23	difficult	difficult	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
25	almost	almost	ADV	RB	_	26	advmod	_	_
26	impossible	impossible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
28	to	to	PART	TO	_	29	mark	_	_
29	judge	judge	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	26	parataxis	_	_
30	with	with	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	32	det	_	_
32	degree	degree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	_
33	of	of	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
34	accuracy	accuracy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	nmod	_	_
35	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	36	advmod	_	_
36	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	ccomp	_	_
37	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	39	nsubj	_	_
38	really	really	ADV	RB	_	39	advmod	_	_
39	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	36	cop	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | some stories |  |  |  |  | old *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **hand down** | present · perfect · passive | some stories *not said here* |  |  |  | from one generation to another |  | vn send-11.1-1 «NP V NP PP.initial\_location»: from generation=Initial\_Location |
| 3 | **is** | present | some stories *not said here* |  |  |  |  | difficult *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **judge** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | with any degree of accuracy | vn estimate-34.2-1-1 «NP V whether/if S»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **is** | present |  |  |  |  |  | old *property* | tree rules |

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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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