---
title: Okpa told the hare that he might join in the feast, but that when he… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: Okpa told the hare that he might join in the feast, but that when he had finished eating he must make the usual present to the ju-ju, and that if he went way without paying something very bad would happen to him. Who acts: Okpa, something. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by E
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 1, sentence 51

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Okpa told the hare that he might join in the feast, but that when he had finished eating he must make the usual present to the ju-ju, and that if he went way without paying something very bad would happen to him.

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**Who acts:** Okpa, something · **What happens:** tell, join, finish, eat, make, go · **To what, where:** hare, usual present, way, Okpa · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (Okpa, something), 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:pg70959:18:51
# text = Okpa told the hare that he might join in the feast, but that when he had finished eating he must make the usual present to the ju-ju, and that if he went way without paying something very bad would happen to him.
1	Okpa	Okpa	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	hare	hare	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	iobj	_	_
5	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
6	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
7	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
8	join	join	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	xcomp	_	_
9	in	in	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	feast	feast	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
13	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
14	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	18	mark	_	_
15	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	18	advmod	_	_
16	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
17	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
18	finished	finish	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	22	advcl	_	_
19	eating	eat	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	18	xcomp	_	_
20	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
21	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	_
22	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	conj	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
24	usual	usual	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	amod	_	_
25	present	present	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obj	_	_
26	to	to	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	25	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
32	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
33	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	36	mark	_	_
34	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	36	mark	_	_
35	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	36	nsubj	_	_
36	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
37	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	obj	_	_
38	without	without	SCONJ	IN	_	39	mark	_	_
39	paying	pay	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	36	advcl	_	_
40	something	something	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	44	nsubj	_	_
41	very	very	ADV	RB	_	42	advmod	_	_
42	bad	bad	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	40	amod	_	_
43	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	44	aux	_	_
44	happen	happen	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	39	ccomp	_	_
45	to	to	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
46	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	44	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | Okpa |  | the hare |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent hare=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 2 | **join** *not said to happen* | might | Okpa |  |  |  |  | in the feast | vn cooperate-73.1-1 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent in feast=Theme |
| 3 | **finish** | past · perfect | Okpa |  |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Affector clause=Eventuality |
| 4 | **eat** | gerund | Okpa *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **make** | must | Okpa | the usual present |  |  |  | to the ju ju | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent present=Product |
| 6 | **go** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | Okpa | way |  |  |  |  | vn meander-47.7 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location way=Theme |
| 7 | **pay** | gerund | Okpa *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 8 | **happen** | would | something |  | Okpa |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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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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