---
title: Since that time tortoises have always been sacrificed to the Ekpinon… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: Since that time tortoises have always been sacrificed to the Ekpinon ju-ju, and the Okuni people always warn their children never to go out in the middle of the day, when the sun is high up, as they might meet the Ekpinon ju-ju without knowing it, and when they returned home they would get sick and 
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xiii.--of Chief Amaza, His Wife Achi and the Tortoise., sentence 50

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Since that time tortoises have always been sacrificed to the Ekpinon ju-ju, and the Okuni people always warn their children never to go out in the middle of the day, when the sun is high up, as they might meet the Ekpinon ju-ju without knowing it, and when they returned home they would get sick and die.

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**Who acts:** Okuni people, sun, people · **What happens:** sacrifice, warn, not go out, be, meet, know · **To what, where:** Ekpinon ju ju, children, middle, sun · **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 (Okuni people, sun, people), 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:pg70959:10:50
# text = Since that time tortoises have always been sacrificed to the Ekpinon ju-ju, and the Okuni people always warn their children never to go out in the middle of the day, when the sun is high up, as they might meet the Ekpinon ju-ju without knowing it, and when they returned home they would get sick and die.
1	Since	since	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
2	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	3	det	_	_
3	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	_
4	tortoises	tortoise	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	_
5	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
6	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	8	advmod	_	_
7	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	8	aux:pass	_	_
8	sacrificed	sacrifice	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
9	to	to	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
11	Ekpinon	Ekpinon	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	14	compound	_	_
12	ju	ju	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	ju	ju	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
18	Okuni	Okuni	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	19	compound	_	_
19	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	nsubj	_	_
20	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	21	advmod	_	_
21	warn	warn	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	conj	_	_
22	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	23	nmod:poss	_	_
23	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	obj	_	_
24	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	26	advmod	_	_
25	to	to	PART	TO	_	26	mark	_	_
26	go	go	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	21	ccomp	_	_
27	out	out	ADV	RB	_	26	advmod	_	_
28	in	in	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	middle	middle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	_
31	of	of	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	40	punct	_	_
35	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	40	advmod	_	_
36	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
37	sun	sun	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	nsubj	_	_
38	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	40	cop	_	_
39	high	high	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	40	advmod	_	_
40	up	up	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	45	punct	_	_
42	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	45	mark	_	_
43	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	45	nsubj	_	_
44	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	45	aux	_	_
45	meet	meet	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	conj	_	_
46	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	50	det	_	_
47	Ekpinon	Ekpinon	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	50	compound	_	_
48	ju	ju	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	50	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	48	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	ju	ju	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	obj	_	_
51	without	without	SCONJ	IN	_	52	mark	_	_
52	knowing	know	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	45	advcl	_	_
53	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	52	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
54	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	62	punct	_	_
55	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	62	cc	_	_
56	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	58	advmod	_	_
57	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	58	nsubj	_	_
58	returned	return	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	62	advcl	_	_
59	home	home	ADV	RB	_	58	advmod	_	_
60	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	62	nsubj	_	_
61	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	62	aux	_	_
62	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	parataxis	_	_
63	sick	sick	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	62	xcomp	_	_
64	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	65	cc	_	_
65	die	die	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	62	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
66	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sacrifice** | present · perfect · passive |  |  | the Ekpinon ju ju |  | since time tortoises | always *property* | vn contribute-13.2-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient»: to ju=Recipient |
| 2 | **warn** *speech: warn* | present | the Okuni people |  | people's children |  |  | always *property* | vn advise-37.9-1 «NP V NP how S\_INF»: agent=Agent child=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 3 | **not** **go out** | to-infinitive |  |  |  | the middle of the day |  | out *property* | vn interact-36.6 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **is** | present | the sun |  |  |  |  | high, up *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **meet** | might | people | the Ekpinon ju ju |  |  |  |  | vn meet-36.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent ju=Co-Agent |
| 6 | **know** | gerund | people *not said here* | sun |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer it=Stimulus |
| 7 | **return** | past | people |  |  |  |  | home *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 8 | **get** | would | people |  |  |  |  | sick *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer |
| 9 | **die** | infinitive | people *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |

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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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