---
title: From that time, whenever the Okuni people go to war, they put the sk… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: From that time, whenever the Okuni people go to war, they put the skulls of their enemies whom they have killed on the ground, so that they can show them to all people as the heads of their enemies whom they have slain, and they always hit them with their chewing-sticks when they go out in the morni
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/11/42/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[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/) / [Xiv.--the Fate of Agbor the Hunter, Wh…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/11/) / 42

# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xiv.--the Fate of Agbor the Hunter, Who Killed His Wife and Children., sentence 42

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
From that time, whenever the Okuni people go to war, they put the skulls of their enemies whom they have killed on the ground, so that they can show them to all people as the heads of their enemies whom they have slain, and they always hit them with their chewing-sticks when they go out in the morning, saying, “I conquered you; I conquered you.”

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Okuni people, people · **What happens:** go, put, kill, show, have, hit · **To what, where:** war, skulls, enemies, ground, people, you · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xiv.--the Fate of Agbor the Hunter, Who Killed His Wife and Children.. 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, people), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg70959:11:42
# text = From that time, whenever the Okuni people go to war, they put the skulls of their enemies whom they have killed on the ground, so that they can show them to all people as the heads of their enemies whom they have slain, and they always hit them with their chewing-sticks when they go out in the morning, saying, “I conquered you; I conquered you.”
1	From	from	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	3	det	_	_
3	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
5	whenever	whenever	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	9	advmod	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	Okuni	Okuni	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	_
8	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nsubj	_	_
9	go	go	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	acl:relcl	_	_
10	to	to	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	war	war	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
13	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
14	put	put	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	skulls	skull	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	obj	_	_
17	of	of	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	19	nmod:poss	_	_
19	enemies	enemy	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	nmod	_	_
20	whom	whom	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	23	nsubj:pass	_	_
21	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj:pass	_	_
22	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	23	aux	_	_
23	killed	kill	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	19	acl:relcl	_	_
24	on	on	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
28	so	so	SCONJ	IN	ExtPos=SCONJ	32	mark	_	_
29	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	28	fixed	_	_
30	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
31	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	32	aux	_	_
32	show	show	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	advcl	_	_
33	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	obj	_	_
34	to	to	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
35	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	36	det	_	_
36	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	32	obl	_	_
37	as	as	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
38	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
39	heads	head	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	32	obl	_	_
40	of	of	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
41	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	42	nmod:poss	_	_
42	enemies	enemy	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	39	nmod	_	_
43	whom	whom	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	45	obj	_	_
44	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	45	nsubj	_	_
45	have	have	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	42	acl:relcl	_	_
46	slain	slain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	51	punct	_	_
48	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	51	cc	_	_
49	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	51	nsubj	_	_
50	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	51	advmod	_	_
51	hit	hit	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	conj	_	_
52	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	51	obj	_	_
53	with	with	ADP	IN	_	57	case	_	_
54	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	57	nmod:poss	_	_
55	chewing	chewing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	57	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
56	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	55	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
57	sticks	stick	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	51	obl	_	_
58	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	60	advmod	_	_
59	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	60	nsubj	_	_
60	go	go	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	51	advcl	_	_
61	out	out	ADV	RB	_	60	advmod	_	_
62	in	in	ADP	IN	_	64	case	_	_
63	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	64	det	_	_
64	morning	morning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	60	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
65	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	66	punct	_	_
66	saying	say	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	60	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
67	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	70	punct	_	_
68	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	70	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
69	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	70	nsubj	_	_
70	conquered	conquer	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	66	ccomp	_	_
71	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	70	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
72	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	74	punct	_	_
73	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	74	nsubj	_	_
74	conquered	conquer	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	parataxis	_	_
75	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	74	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
76	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	74	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
77	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	14	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **go** | present | the Okuni people |  |  | war |  | whenever *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to war=Initial\_Location |
| 2 | **put** | past | people | the skulls of people's enemies |  |  | time |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **kill** | present · perfect · passive |  | people's enemies |  | the ground |  | people *nsubj:pass* | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 4 | **show** | can | people | enemies *= enemy* | all people |  |  | as the heads of people's enemies | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent they=Topic to people=Recipient |
| 5 | **have** | present | people | people's enemies |  |  |  | slain *obj* | tree rules |
| 6 | **hit** | past | people | enemies *= enemy* |  |  |  | with people's chewing sticks; always *property* | vn hit-18.1-1 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent they=Patient with stick=Instrument |
| 7 | **go out** | present | people |  |  |  | morning | out *property* | vn interact-36.6 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 8 | **say** *speech: assert* | gerund | people *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 9 | **conquer** *in a quote* | past | people | you |  |  |  |  | vn subjugate-42.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent you=Patient |
| 10 | **conquer** *in a quote* | past | people | you |  |  |  |  | vn subjugate-42.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent you=Patient |

<!-- .note -->
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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 41](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/11/41/)
- next →: [sentence 43](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/11/43/)
- ↑ back to [Xiv.--the Fate of Agbor the Hunter, Who Killed His Wife and Children.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/11/)