---
title: From that day, the frog lived in the water, and seldom came to land… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: From that day, the frog lived in the water, and seldom came to land except for food, and, ever since, the young of the frog have had tails which show that they come from the frog which was made from the tail of a yam. Who acts: frog, young, tails, nuts. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xv.--what Happened At Okuni When Anyone Was Killed By Accident., sentence 118

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From that day, the frog lived in the water, and seldom came to land except for food, and, ever since, the young of the frog have had tails which show that they come from the frog which was made from the tail of a yam.

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**Who acts:** frog, young, tails, nuts · **What happens:** live, come, land, have, show, make · **To what, where:** water, tails, frog, tail · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (frog, young, tails, nuts), 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:pg70959:12:119
# text = From that day, the frog lived in the water, and seldom came to land except for food, and, ever since, the young of the frog have had tails which show that they come from the frog which was made from the tail of a yam.
1	From	from	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	3	det	_	_
3	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	frog	frog	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
7	lived	live	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	in	in	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
13	seldom	seldom	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
14	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
15	to	to	PART	TO	_	16	mark	_	_
16	land	land	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	xcomp	_	_
17	except	except	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	for	for	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
23	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	24	advmod	_	_
24	since	since	ADV	RB	_	32	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	young	young	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	nsubj	_	_
28	of	of	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	frog	frog	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	nmod	_	_
31	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	32	aux	_	_
32	had	have	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	14	parataxis	_	_
33	tails	tail	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	32	obj	_	_
34	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	35	nsubj	_	_
35	show	show	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	33	acl:relcl	_	_
36	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	38	mark	_	_
37	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	38	nsubj	_	_
38	come	come	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	35	ccomp	_	_
39	from	from	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
40	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
41	frog	frog	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	obl	_	_
42	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	44	nsubj:pass	_	_
43	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	44	aux:pass	_	_
44	made	make	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	41	acl:relcl	_	_
45	from	from	ADP	IN	_	47	case	_	_
46	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	47	det	_	_
47	tail	tail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	44	obl	_	_
48	of	of	ADP	IN	_	50	case	_	_
49	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	50	det	_	_
50	yam	yam	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **live** | past | the frog |  |  | the water | day |  | vn lodge-46 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in water=Location |
| 2 | **come** | past | the frog *not said here* |  |  |  |  | seldom *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **land** | to-infinitive | the frog *not said here* |  |  |  |  | except food | vn pocket-9.10-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **have** | present · perfect | the young of the frog | tails |  |  | ever | since *property* | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tail=Patient |
| 5 | **show** | present | tails |  |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 6 | **come** | present | nuts *= nut* |  |  |  |  | from the frog | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme from frog=Initial\_Location |
| 7 | **make** | past · passive |  | the frog |  | the tail of a yam |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V PP»: subject=Product from tail=Material |

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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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