--- title: When the dry season came, it was the custom of the Okuni women to go… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics description: When the dry season came, it was the custom of the Okuni women to go into the bush to the small rivers, and having dammed them up with sticks and clay, they would bale the water out and catch the fish. Who acts: dry season, poison, rivers. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by E --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/10/6/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/) / [Xiii.--of Chief Amaza, His Wife Achi a…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/10/) / 6 # Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xiii.--of Chief Amaza, His Wife Achi and the Tortoise., sentence 6 When the dry season came, it was the custom of the Okuni women to go into the bush to the small rivers, and having dammed them up with sticks and clay, they would bale the water out and catch the fish. **Who acts:** dry season, poison, rivers · **What happens:** come, be, go, dam up, bale out, catch · **To what, where:** custom, bush, rivers, water, fish 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 (dry season, poison, rivers), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong. ## The tree {#tree} ```conllu # sent_id = book:pg70959:10:6 # text = When the dry season came, it was the custom of the Okuni women to go into the bush to the small rivers, and having dammed them up with sticks and clay, they would bale the water out and catch the fish. 1 When when SCONJ WRB _ 5 mark _ _ 2 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 4 det _ _ 3 dry dry ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 4 amod _ _ 4 season season NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 nsubj _ _ 5 came come VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 10 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 6 , , PUNCT , _ 5 punct _ _ 7 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 10 nsubj _ _ 8 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 10 cop _ _ 9 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 10 det _ _ 10 custom custom NOUN NN Number=Sing 0 root _ _ 11 of of ADP IN _ 14 case _ _ 12 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 14 det _ _ 13 Okuni Okuni PROPN NNP Number=Sing 14 compound _ _ 14 women woman NOUN NNS Number=Plur 10 nmod _ _ 15 to to PART TO _ 16 mark _ _ 16 go go VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 10 acl _ _ 17 into into ADP IN _ 19 case _ _ 18 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 19 det _ _ 19 bush bush NOUN NN Number=Sing 16 obl _ _ 20 to to ADP IN _ 23 case _ _ 21 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 23 det _ _ 22 small small ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 23 amod _ _ 23 rivers river NOUN NNS Number=Plur 16 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 24 , , PUNCT , _ 27 punct _ _ 25 and and CCONJ CC _ 27 cc _ _ 26 having have AUX VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 27 aux _ _ 27 dammed dam VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 10 conj _ _ 28 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 27 obj _ _ 29 up up ADP RP _ 27 compound:prt _ _ 30 with with ADP IN _ 31 case _ _ 31 sticks stick NOUN NNS Number=Plur 27 obl _ _ 32 and and CCONJ CC _ 33 cc _ _ 33 clay clay NOUN NN Number=Sing 31 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 34 , , PUNCT , _ 37 punct _ _ 35 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 37 nsubj _ _ 36 would would AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 37 aux _ _ 37 bale bale VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 10 parataxis _ _ 38 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 39 det _ _ 39 water water NOUN NN Number=Sing 37 obj _ _ 40 out out ADP RP _ 37 compound:prt _ _ 41 and and CCONJ CC _ 42 cc _ _ 42 catch catch VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 37 conj _ _ 43 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 44 det _ _ 44 fish fish NOUN NN Number=Sing 42 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 45 . . PUNCT . _ 10 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **come** | past | the dry season | | | | | | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 2 | **is a** | past | poison | the custom | | | | of the Okuni women | tree rules | | 3 | **go** | to-infinitive | | | | the bush | | to the small rivers | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location PP.destination»: agent=Theme into bush=Initial\_Location to river=Destination | | 4 | **dam up** | gerund · perfect | poison *not said here* | rivers *= river* | | | | with sticks and clay | vn fill-9.8 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent they=Destination with stick=Theme | | 5 | **bale out** | would | rivers *= river* | the water | | | | | tree rules | | 6 | **catch** | infinitive | rivers *= river* *not said here* | the fish | | | | | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fish=Theme | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/10/5/) - next →: [sentence 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/10/7/) - ↑ back to [Xiii.--of Chief Amaza, His Wife Achi and the Tortoise.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/10/)