---
title: These evil practices have been practically stopped now, but the nati… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: These evil practices have been practically stopped now, but the native belief in witchcraft and ju-ju is just as strong as ever, although they know quite well that to call a man a witch is an offence for which they will get into trouble. Who acts: evil practices, native belief, practices, witch. A s
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Opening, sentence 82

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These evil practices have been practically stopped now, but the native belief in witchcraft and ju-ju is just as strong as ever, although they know quite well that to call a man a witch is an offence for which they will get into trouble.

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**Who acts:** evil practices, native belief, practices, witch · **What happens:** have, be, know, call, get · **To what, where:** man, offence, trouble · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (evil practices, native belief, practices, witch), 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:pg70959:1:82
# text = These evil practices have been practically stopped now, but the native belief in witchcraft and ju-ju is just as strong as ever, although they know quite well that to call a man a witch is an offence for which they will get into trouble.
1	These	this	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	3	det	_	_
2	evil	evil	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	practices	practice	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	have	have	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	7	cop	_	_
6	practically	practically	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	stopped	stop	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	ccomp	_	_
8	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	7	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
10	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
12	native	native	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	belief	belief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	nsubj	_	_
14	in	in	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	witchcraft	witchcraft	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nmod	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
17	ju	ju	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	17	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	ju	ju	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	conj	_	_
20	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	23	cop	_	_
21	just	just	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	_
22	as	as	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	_
23	strong	strong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	conj	_	_
24	as	as	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
25	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	23	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
27	although	although	SCONJ	IN	_	29	mark	_	_
28	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
29	know	know	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
30	quite	quite	ADV	RB	_	31	advmod	_	_
31	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	29	advmod	_	_
32	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	34	mark	_	_
33	to	to	PART	TO	_	34	mark	_	_
34	call	call	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	29	advcl	_	_
35	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obj	_	_
37	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
38	witch	witch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	nsubj	_	_
39	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	41	cop	_	_
40	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
41	offence	offence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	xcomp	_	_
42	for	for	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
43	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	46	obl	_	_
44	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	46	nsubj	_	_
45	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	46	aux	_	_
46	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	41	parataxis	_	_
47	into	into	ADP	IN	_	48	case	_	_
48	trouble	trouble	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	46	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | present | this evil practices |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **is** | participle | this evil practices *not said here* |  |  |  | now | practically, stop *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **is** | present | the native belief in witchcraft and ju ju |  |  |  |  | strong *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **know** | present | practices *= practice* |  |  |  |  | well *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 5 | **call** | to-infinitive | practices *= practice* *not said here* |  | a man |  |  |  | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent man=Recipient |
| 6 | **is a** | present | a witch | a offence |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **get** | future | practices *= practice* |  |  | trouble |  | for a offence | vn escape-51.1 «NP V PP.destination»: agent=Theme into trouble=Destination |

<!-- .note -->
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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