---
title: No amount of argument has any effect on the native mind, and you can… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: No amount of argument has any effect on the native mind, and you cannot convince the man that a ju-ju, such as the one mentioned above, is harmless. Who acts: amount, you. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Opening, with its dependency tree and the pragma
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Opening, sentence 77

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No amount of argument has any effect on the native mind, and you cannot convince the man that a ju-ju, such as the one mentioned above, is harmless.

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**Who acts:** amount, you · **What happens:** have, not convince, mention, be, amount · **To what, where:** effect, native mind, man, one, argument

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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 (amount, you), 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:pg70959:1:77
# text = No amount of argument has any effect on the native mind, and you cannot convince the man that a ju-ju, such as the one mentioned above, is harmless.
1	No	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	2	det	_	_
2	amount	amount	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	argument	argument	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
5	has	have	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	7	det	_	_
7	effect	effect	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
8	on	on	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	native	native	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	mind	mind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
14	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
15	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	17	advmod	_	_
17	convince	convince	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	parataxis	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	_
20	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	24	mark	_	_
21	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
22	ju	ju	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	22	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	ju	ju	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
26	such	such	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|ExtPos=ADP	29	case	_	_
27	as	as	ADP	IN	_	26	fixed	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	appos	_	_
30	mentioned	mention	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	29	acl	_	_
31	above	above	ADV	RB	_	30	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
33	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	34	cop	_	_
34	harmless	harmless	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | present | no amount of argument | any effect |  | the native mind |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent effect=Patient |
| 2 | **not** **convince** | can | you | the man  a ju ju |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus man=Experiencer |
| 3 | **mention** *speech: other* | participle |  | the one *not said here* |  |  |  | above *property* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **is** | present | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  | harmless *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **amount** |  |  | argument |  |  |  |  | nom amount «possession transitive»: of=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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