---
title: He then consulted a lot-caster called Aja as to the baby’s future, a… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: He then consulted a lot-caster called Aja as to the baby’s future, and asked him whether the child would live or die as the ju-ju man had seen him. Who acts: Achi, child, ju man. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xiii.--of Chief Amaza, His Wife Achi and 
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xiii.--of Chief Amaza, His Wife Achi and the Tortoise., sentence 46

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He then consulted a lot-caster called Aja as to the baby’s future, and asked him whether the child would live or die as the ju-ju man had seen him.

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**Who acts:** Achi, child, ju man · **What happens:** consult, call, ask, live, die, see · **To what, where:** lot caster, Achi · **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 (Achi, child, ju man), 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:pg70959:10:46
# text = He then consulted a lot-caster called Aja as to the baby’s future, and asked him whether the child would live or die as the ju-ju man had seen him.
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	consulted	consult	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
5	lot	lot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	caster	caster	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
8	called	call	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	acl	_	_
9	Aja	Aja	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	xcomp	_	_
10	as	as	ADP	IN	ExtPos=ADP	15	case	_	_
11	to	to	ADP	IN	_	10	fixed	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	baby	baby	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	’s	's	PART	POS	_	13	case	_	_
15	future	future	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
18	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
19	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	iobj	_	_
20	whether	whether	SCONJ	IN	_	24	mark	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	child	child	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	nsubj	_	_
23	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	24	aux	_	_
24	live	live	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	xcomp	_	_
25	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
26	die	die	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	24	conj	_	_
27	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	34	mark	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	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	32	compound	_	_
32	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	nsubj	_	_
33	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	34	aux	_	_
34	seen	see	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	26	advcl	_	_
35	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	34	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **consult** | past | Achi | a lot caster |  |  | then |  | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent caster=Theme |
| 2 | **call** | participle |  | a lot caster *not said here* |  |  |  | as the baby's future; Aja *xcomp* | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | Achi *not said here* |  | Achi |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S»: agent=Agent he=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 4 | **live** *not said to happen* | would | the child |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **die** | infinitive | the child *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |
| 6 | **see** | past · perfect | the ju man | Achi |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer he=Stimulus |

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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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