---
title: In the days of the great famine, when all men and animals on the lan… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: In the days of the great famine, when all men and animals on the land were starving, the alligators and the fish in the river had plenty to eat, and the parrots and bats were also well off for food. Who acts: men, days, parrots. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone 
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxii.--a Story of the Great Famine., sentence 1

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In the days of the great famine, when all men and animals on the land were starving, the alligators and the fish in the river had plenty to eat, and the parrots and bats were also well off for food.

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**Who acts:** men, days, parrots · **What happens:** starve, have, eat, be · **To what, where:** plenty

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This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxii.--a Story of the Great Famine.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (men, days, parrots), 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:pg70959:16:1
# text = In the days of the great famine, when all men and animals on the land were starving, the alligators and the fish in the river had plenty to eat, and the parrots and bats were also well off for food.
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	days	day	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	28	nsubj	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	famine	famine	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
9	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	18	advmod	_	_
10	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	11	det	_	_
11	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	nsubj	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
13	animals	animal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	conj	_	_
14	on	on	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	land	land	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nmod	_	_
17	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
18	starving	starve	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	7	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	alligators	alligator	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	conj	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	fish	fish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	conj	_	_
25	in	in	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	nmod	_	_
28	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
29	plenty	plenty	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obj	_	_
30	to	to	PART	TO	_	31	mark	_	_
31	eat	eat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	29	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	41	punct	_	_
33	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	41	cc	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	parrots	parrot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	41	nsubj	_	_
36	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	37	cc	_	_
37	bats	bat	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	35	conj	_	_
38	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	41	cop	_	_
39	also	also	ADV	RB	_	41	advmod	_	_
40	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	41	advmod	_	_
41	off	off	ADV	RB	_	28	parataxis	_	_
42	for	for	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
43	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	28	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **starve** | past · progressive | all men on the land and animals |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **have** | past | the days of the great famine and the alligators and the fish in the river | plenty |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent plenty=Patient |
| 3 | **eat** | to-infinitive | the days of the great famine and the alligators and the fish in the river *not said here* | plenty *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **is** | past | the parrots and bats |  |  |  |  | for food; off, well *property* | tree rules |

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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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