---
title: The tortoise then asked the ju-ju man some questions, and at last ag… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: The tortoise then asked the ju-ju man some questions, and at last agreed that he should take the baby’s head, but that he should leave the body. Who acts: tortoise. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xiii.--of Chief Amaza, His Wife Achi and the Tortoise.,
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xiii.--of Chief Amaza, His Wife Achi and the Tortoise., sentence 33

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The tortoise then asked the ju-ju man some questions, and at last agreed that he should take the baby’s head, but that he should leave the body.

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**Who acts:** tortoise · **What happens:** ask, agree, take, leave · **To what, where:** questions, ju ju man, last, head, body · **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 (tortoise), 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:pg70959:10:33
# text = The tortoise then asked the ju-ju man some questions, and at last agreed that he should take the baby’s head, but that he should leave the body.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	tortoise	tortoise	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	4	advmod	_	_
4	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
6	ju	ju	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	ju	ju	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	compound	_	_
9	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
10	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	11	det	_	_
11	questions	question	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
14	at	at	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	obl	_	_
16	agreed	agree	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
17	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	20	mark	_	_
18	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
19	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	20	aux	_	_
20	take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	ccomp	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	baby	baby	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	’s	's	PART	POS	_	22	case	_	_
24	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
26	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
27	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	30	mark	_	_
28	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
29	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	30	aux	_	_
30	leave	leave	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	conj	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	body	body	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | the tortoise | some questions | the ju ju man |  | then |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **agree** *speech: agree* | past |  |  |  | last |  |  | vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **take** | should | tortoise | the baby's head |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent head=Theme |
| 4 | **leave** | should | tortoise | the body |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent body=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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