---
title: Many years ago there were two small boys living at Okuni, named Ori… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: Many years ago there were two small boys living at Okuni, named Ori Namfup and Ori, they were great friends and always used to play together. Who acts: two small boys, boys. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xv.--what Happened At Okuni When Anyone Was Ki
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xv.--what Happened At Okuni When Anyone Was Killed By Accident., sentence 1

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Many years ago there were two small boys living at Okuni, named Ori Namfup and Ori, they were great friends and always used to play together.

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**Who acts:** two small boys, boys · **What happens:** be, live, name, use, play · **To what, where:** Okuni, great friends

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This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xv.--what Happened At Okuni When Anyone Was Killed By Accident.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (two small boys, boys), 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:pg70959:12:1
# text = Many years ago there were two small boys living at Okuni, named Ori Namfup and Ori, they were great friends and always used to play together.
1	Many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl:unmarked	_	_
3	ago	ago	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
4	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	5	expl	_	_
5	were	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	8	nummod	_	_
7	small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	boys	boy	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
9	living	live	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	8	acl	_	_
10	at	at	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	Okuni	Okuni	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
13	named	name	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	11	acl	_	_
14	Ori	Ori	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	13	xcomp	_	_
15	Namfup	Namfup	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	14	flat	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
17	Ori	Ori	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	14	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
19	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
20	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	cop	_	_
21	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	amod	_	_
22	friends	friend	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	appos	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
24	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	25	advmod	_	_
25	used	use	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	22	conj	_	_
26	to	to	PART	TO	_	27	mark	_	_
27	play	play	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	25	xcomp	_	_
28	together	together	ADV	RB	_	27	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be** | past | two small boys |  |  | there | year |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **live** | gerund | two small boys *not said here* |  |  | Okuni |  |  | vn lodge-46 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme at okuni=Location |
| 3 | **name** | participle |  | Okuni *not said here* |  |  |  | Ori and Ori *xcomp* | vn appoint-29.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **is a** | past | boys *= boy* | great friends |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **use** | participle | boys *= boy* *not said here* |  |  |  |  | always *property* | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 6 | **play** | to-infinitive | boys *= boy* *not said here* |  |  |  |  | together *property* | vn performance-26.7-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

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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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