---
title: When they arrived at the river, which was close to where the ju-ju m… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: When they arrived at the river, which was close to where the ju-ju man lived, they found that most of the people had already dried their fish and were returning home. Who acts: slaves, river, ju man, most. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xiii.--of Chie
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xiii.--of Chief Amaza, His Wife Achi and the Tortoise., sentence 11

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When they arrived at the river, which was close to where the ju-ju man lived, they found that most of the people had already dried their fish and were returning home.

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**Who acts:** slaves, river, ju man, most · **What happens:** arrive, be, live, find, dry, return · **To what, where:** river, fish · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xiii.--of Chief Amaza, His Wife Achi and the Tortoise.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (slaves, river, ju man, most), 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:pg70959:10:11
# text = When they arrived at the river, which was close to where the ju-ju man lived, they found that most of the people had already dried their fish and were returning home.
1	When	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	3	advmod	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	arrived	arrive	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	advcl	_	_
4	at	at	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
8	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	10	nsubj	_	_
9	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	cop	_	_
10	close	close	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
11	to	to	SCONJ	IN	_	18	mark	_	_
12	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	18	advmod	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
14	ju	ju	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	14	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	ju	ju	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	compound	_	_
17	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nsubj	_	_
18	lived	live	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
20	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
21	found	find	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
22	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	29	mark	_	_
23	most	most	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	29	nsubj	_	_
24	of	of	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	nmod	_	_
27	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	aux	_	_
28	already	already	ADV	RB	_	29	advmod	_	_
29	dried	dry	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	21	ccomp	_	_
30	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	31	nmod:poss	_	_
31	fish	fish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obj	_	_
32	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
33	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	34	aux	_	_
34	returning	return	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	29	conj	_	_
35	home	home	ADV	RB	_	34	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	21	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **arrive** | past | slaves *= slave* |  |  | the river |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **is** | past | the river |  |  |  |  | close *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **live** | past | the ju man |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **find** | past | slaves *= slave* |  |  |  |  |  | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 5 | **dry** | past · perfect | most of the people | slaves's fish |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Patient fish=Result |
| 6 | **return** | past · progressive | most of the people *not said here* |  |  |  |  | home *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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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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