---
title: He then dipped his hand into the ju-ju pot, and having touched them… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: He then dipped his hand into the ju-ju pot, and having touched them one after the other on the forehead and breast, he told them to depart. Who acts: Okpa. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 1, wi
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 1, sentence 54

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He then dipped his hand into the ju-ju pot, and having touched them one after the other on the forehead and breast, he told them to depart.

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**Who acts:** Okpa · **What happens:** dip, have, touch, tell, depart · **To what, where:** hand, ju pot, men, forehead · **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), 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:pg70959:18:54
# text = He then dipped his hand into the ju-ju pot, and having touched them one after the other on the forehead and breast, he told them to depart.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	3	advmod	_	_
3	dipped	dip	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	into	into	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
8	ju	ju	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	ju	ju	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	compound	_	_
11	pot	pot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
14	having	have	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	15	nsubj	_	_
15	touched	touch	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
16	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	obj	_	_
17	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	15	obj	_	_
18	after	after	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	obl	_	_
21	on	on	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	forehead	forehead	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
25	breast	breast	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
27	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
28	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
29	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	iobj	_	_
30	to	to	PART	TO	_	31	mark	_	_
31	depart	depart	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	28	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **dip** | past | Okpa | Okpa's hand |  | the ju pot | then |  | vn funnel-9.3 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent hand=Theme into pot=Destination |
| 2 | **have** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **touch** | past |  | men *= man* |  | the forehead and breast | after the other | one *obj* | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Stimulus they=Experiencer one=Result |
| 4 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | Okpa |  | men *= man* |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent they=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 5 | **depart** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | Okpa *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1-1 «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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