---
title: Years and years ago the Ikom people had never seen the large wooden… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: Years and years ago the Ikom people had never seen the large wooden drum called ’Ndofu. Who acts: Ikom people. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xix.--why the Mist Rises From the Water., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xix.--why the Mist Rises From the Water., sentence 70

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Years and years ago the Ikom people had never seen the large wooden drum called ’Ndofu.

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**Who acts:** Ikom people · **What happens:** not see, call · **To what, where:** large wooden drum · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xix.--why the Mist Rises From the Water.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Ikom 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:pg70959:14:70
# text = Years and years ago the Ikom people had never seen the large wooden drum called ’Ndofu.
1	Years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl:unmarked	_	_
2	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
3	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	conj	_	_
4	ago	ago	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	Ikom	Ikom	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	nsubj	_	_
8	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
9	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	10	advmod	_	_
10	seen	see	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
12	large	large	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
13	wooden	wooden	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	drum	drum	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	_
15	called	call	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	14	acl	_	_
16	’	'	PUNCT	NFP	_	17	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	Ndofu	Ndofu	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	15	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **see** | past · perfect | the Ikom people | the large wooden drum |  |  |  | ago *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer drum=Stimulus |
| 2 | **call** | participle |  | the large wooden drum *not said here* |  |  |  | Ndofu *xcomp* | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «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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