---
title: He then placed the tortoise on the ground in front of his ju-ju, and… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: He then placed the tortoise on the ground in front of his ju-ju, and drove a stake through his body, and said to the ju-ju, “This is the man who stole Achi’s baby from me, and prevented me from making a human sacrifice for you, so you must take him instead.” Who acts: man, This, ju ju. A sentence of
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xiii.--of Chief Amaza, His Wife Achi and the Tortoise., sentence 44

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He then placed the tortoise on the ground in front of his ju-ju, and drove a stake through his body, and said to the ju-ju, “This is the man who stole Achi’s baby from me, and prevented me from making a human sacrifice for you, so you must take him instead.”

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**Who acts:** man, This, ju ju · **What happens:** place, drive, say, be, steal, prevent · **To what, where:** tortoise, ground, stake, body, ju ju, man · **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 (man, This, ju ju), 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:pg70959:10:44
# text = He then placed the tortoise on the ground in front of his ju-ju, and drove a stake through his body, and said to the ju-ju, “This is the man who stole Achi’s baby from me, and prevented me from making a human sacrifice for you, so you must take him instead.”
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	3	advmod	_	_
3	placed	place	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	tortoise	tortoise	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	on	on	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
9	in	in	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	front	front	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
12	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	15	nmod:poss	_	_
13	ju	ju	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	ju	ju	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
18	drove	drive	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
19	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	stake	stake	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obj	_	_
21	through	through	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	23	nmod:poss	_	_
23	body	body	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
26	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
27	to	to	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
29	ju	ju	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	29	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	ju	ju	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
33	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	37	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	This	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	37	nsubj	_	_
35	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	37	cop	_	_
36	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
37	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	appos	_	_
38	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	39	nsubj	_	_
39	stole	steal	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	37	acl:relcl	_	_
40	Achi	Achi	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	42	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	’s	's	PART	POS	_	40	case	_	_
42	baby	baby	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	obj	_	_
43	from	from	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
44	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	39	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	47	punct	_	_
46	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	47	cc	_	_
47	prevented	prevent	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
48	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	47	obj	_	_
49	from	from	SCONJ	IN	_	50	mark	_	_
50	making	make	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	47	advcl	_	_
51	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	53	det	_	_
52	human	human	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	53	amod	_	_
53	sacrifice	sacrifice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	50	obj	_	_
54	for	for	ADP	IN	_	55	case	_	_
55	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	50	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
56	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	60	punct	_	_
57	so	so	ADV	RB	_	60	advmod	_	_
58	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	60	nsubj	_	_
59	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	60	aux	_	_
60	take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	parataxis	_	_
61	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	60	obj	_	_
62	instead	instead	ADV	RB	_	60	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
63	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	60	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
64	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	60	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **place** | past | man | the tortoise |  | the ground | then | in front of man's ju ju | tree rules |
| 2 | **drive** | past | man *not said here* | a stake |  | man's body |  |  | vn nonvehicle-51.4.2-1 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent stake=Theme through body=Trajectory |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | man *not said here* |  | the ju ju |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to ju=Recipient |
| 4 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | This | the man |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **steal** *in a quote* | past | the man | Achi's baby |  |  |  | from man | vn steal-10.5-1 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent baby=Theme from i=Source |
| 6 | **prevent** *in a quote* | past | man *not said here* | man |  |  |  |  | vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer i=Theme |
| 7 | **make** *in a quote* | gerund | man *not said here* | a human sacrifice |  |  |  | for the ju ju *= ju* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent sacrifice=Product for you=Beneficiary |
| 8 | **take** *in a quote* | must | the ju ju *= ju* |  | man |  |  | instead *property* | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP ADVP»: agent=Instrument he=Destination |

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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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