---
title: The ju-ju man agreed that there was such a custom, so the tortoise w… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: The ju-ju man agreed that there was such a custom, so the tortoise went off and fetched his drum. Who acts: ju man, custom, tortoise. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xiii.--of Chief Amaza, His Wife Achi and the Tortoise., with its dependency tree and t
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xiii.--of Chief Amaza, His Wife Achi and the Tortoise., sentence 35

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The ju-ju man agreed that there was such a custom, so the tortoise went off and fetched his drum.

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**Who acts:** ju man, custom, tortoise · **What happens:** agree, be, go off, fetch · **To what, where:** drum

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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 (ju man, custom, 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:pg70959:10:35
# text = The ju-ju man agreed that there was such a custom, so the tortoise went off and fetched his drum.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
2	ju	ju	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	ju	ju	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	_
5	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	agreed	agree	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
8	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	9	expl	_	_
9	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	ccomp	_	_
10	such	such	DET	PDT	PronType=Ind	12	det:predet	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	custom	custom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
14	so	so	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	tortoise	tortoise	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nsubj	_	_
17	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	parataxis	_	_
18	off	off	ADP	RP	_	17	compound:prt	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
20	fetched	fetch	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	conj	_	_
21	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	22	nmod:poss	_	_
22	drum	drum	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **agree** *speech: agree* | past | the ju man |  |  |  |  |  | vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **be** | past | such custom |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **go off** | past | the tortoise |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-2 «NP V ADV»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **fetch** | past | the tortoise *not said here* | tortoise's drum |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent drum=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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