---
title: Aja placed his mats on the ground, and having sat down with his legs… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: Aja placed his mats on the ground, and having sat down with his legs crossed, he cast lots. Who acts: Aja, legs. 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 the pragmatics of ever
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xiii.--of Chief Amaza, His Wife Achi and the Tortoise., sentence 47

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Aja placed his mats on the ground, and having sat down with his legs crossed, he cast lots.

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**Who acts:** Aja, legs · **What happens:** place, sit down, cross, cast · **To what, where:** mats, ground, lots

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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 (Aja, legs), 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:pg70959:10:47
# text = Aja placed his mats on the ground, and having sat down with his legs crossed, he cast lots.
1	Aja	Aja	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	placed	place	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	mats	mat	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
5	on	on	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
10	having	have	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	11	aux	_	_
11	sat	sit	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	2	parataxis	_	_
12	down	down	ADP	RP	_	11	compound:prt	_	_
13	with	with	SCONJ	IN	_	16	mark	_	_
14	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	15	nmod:poss	_	_
15	legs	leg	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	nsubj	_	_
16	crossed	cross	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
18	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
19	cast	cast	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	conj	_	_
20	lots	lot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **place** | past | Aja | Aja's mats |  | the ground |  |  | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V PP.destination NP»: agent=Agent mat=Theme on ground=Destination |
| 2 | **sit down** | gerund · perfect |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **cross** | past | Aja's legs |  |  |  |  |  | vn contiguous\_location-47.8-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **cast** | past | Aja | lots |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent lot=Product |

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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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