---
title: Whenever a sacrifice was about to be made, all the people who belong… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: Whenever a sacrifice was about to be made, all the people who belonged to the society used to meet together and sit down all round the ju-ju, but as the law of the ju-ju was that no man should open his legs, the people always tied their knees and ankles together with tie-tie, because if anyone opene
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 1, sentence 49

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Whenever a sacrifice was about to be made, all the people who belonged to the society used to meet together and sit down all round the ju-ju, but as the law of the ju-ju was that no man should open his legs, the people always tied their knees and ankles together with tie-tie, because if anyone opened his legs he would at once get elephantiasis.

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**Who acts:** sacrifice, people, man, anyone · **What happens:** be, make, belong, use, meet, sit down · **To what, where:** knees, legs, elephantiasis

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This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (sacrifice, people, man, anyone), 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:pg70959:18:49
# text = Whenever a sacrifice was about to be made, all the people who belonged to the society used to meet together and sit down all round the ju-ju, but as the law of the ju-ju was that no man should open his legs, the people always tied their knees and ankles together with tie-tie, because if anyone opened his legs he would at once get elephantiasis.
1	Whenever	whenever	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	5	advmod	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	sacrifice	sacrifice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
5	about	about	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
7	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	aux:pass	_	_
8	made	make	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
10	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	12	det:predet	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl:agent	_	_
13	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	14	nsubj	_	_
14	belonged	belong	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	acl:relcl	_	_
15	to	to	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	society	society	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	_
18	used	use	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	14	ccomp	_	_
19	to	to	PART	TO	_	20	mark	_	_
20	meet	meet	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	advcl	_	_
21	together	together	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
23	sit	sit	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	conj	_	_
24	down	down	ADP	RP	_	23	compound:prt	_	_
25	all	all	ADV	RB	_	30	advmod	_	_
26	round	round	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
28	ju	ju	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	28	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	ju	ju	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	46	punct	_	_
32	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	46	cc	_	_
33	as	as	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	law	law	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	46	obl	_	_
36	of	of	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
37	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
38	ju	ju	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	38	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	ju	ju	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	nmod	_	_
41	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	46	cop	_	_
42	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	46	mark	_	_
43	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	44	det	_	_
44	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	46	nsubj	_	_
45	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	46	aux	_	_
46	open	open	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	parataxis	_	_
47	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	48	nmod:poss	_	_
48	legs	leg	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	46	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	53	punct	_	_
50	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	51	det	_	_
51	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	53	nsubj	_	_
52	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	53	advmod	_	_
53	tied	tie	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	46	conj	_	_
54	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	55	nmod:poss	_	_
55	knees	knee	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	53	obj	_	_
56	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	57	cc	_	_
57	ankles	ankle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	55	conj	_	_
58	together	together	ADV	RB	_	53	advmod	_	_
59	with	with	ADP	IN	_	62	case	_	_
60	tie	tie	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	62	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
61	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	60	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
62	tie	tie	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	53	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
63	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	74	punct	_	_
64	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	71	mark	_	_
65	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	67	mark	_	_
66	anyone	anyone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	67	nsubj	_	_
67	opened	open	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	71	advcl	_	_
68	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	69	nmod:poss	_	_
69	legs	leg	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	67	obj	_	_
70	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	71	nsubj	_	_
71	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	74	aux	_	_
72	at	at	ADP	IN	_	73	case	_	_
73	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	74	obl	_	_
74	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	46	conj	_	_
75	elephantiasis	elephantiasis	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	74	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
76	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | a sacrifice |  |  |  |  | about, whenever *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **make** | to-infinitive · passive | all people |  |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **belong** | past | all people |  |  |  |  | to the society | tree rules |
| 4 | **use** | participle | all people *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **meet** | to-infinitive | all people *not said here* |  |  |  |  | together *property* | vn meet-36.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **sit down** | present | all people *not said here* |  |  |  |  | round the ju ju | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **is** | should · past | no man |  |  |  |  | as the law of the ju ju; Okpa's legs *obj*; open *property* | tree rules |
| 8 | **tie** | past | the people | men's knees and ankles |  |  |  | with tie tie; always, together *property* | vn mix-22.1-2 «NP V NP PP.co-patient»: agent=Agent knee=Patient with tie=Co-Patient |
| 9 | **open** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | anyone | Okpa's legs |  |  |  |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location leg=Theme |
| 10 | **get** | would | no man *not said here* | elephantiasis |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP PP.source NP.asset»: agent=Agent elephantiasis=Theme at once=Asset |

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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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