---
title: All the slaves went about their work as usual until the time arrived… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: All the slaves went about their work as usual until the time arrived for the new yams to be dug, at which season it was customary for the people to give presents to their chiefs. Who acts: slaves, time, season. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxv.--how
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 3, sentence 19

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All the slaves went about their work as usual until the time arrived for the new yams to be dug, at which season it was customary for the people to give presents to their chiefs.

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**Who acts:** slaves, time, season · **What happens:** go, arrive, dig, be, give, work · **To what, where:** new yams, customary, presents, chiefs

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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 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (slaves, time, season), 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:pg70959:20:19
# text = All the slaves went about their work as usual until the time arrived for the new yams to be dug, at which season it was customary for the people to give presents to their chiefs.
1	All	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	3	det:predet	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	slaves	slave	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	about	about	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	work	work	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
8	as	as	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	usual	usual	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	obl	_	_
10	until	until	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	_
13	arrived	arrive	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	advcl	_	_
14	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	20	mark	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
16	new	new	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	yams	yam	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	nsubj:pass	_	_
18	to	to	PART	TO	_	20	mark	_	_
19	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	aux:pass	_	_
20	dug	dig	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	13	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
22	at	at	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	which	which	DET	WDT	PronType=Int	24	det	_	_
24	season	season	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	nsubj	_	_
25	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
26	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	cop	_	_
27	customary	customary	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	_
28	for	for	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	27	nmod	_	_
31	to	to	PART	TO	_	32	mark	_	_
32	give	give	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	advcl	_	_
33	presents	present	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	32	obj	_	_
34	to	to	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
35	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	36	nmod:poss	_	_
36	chiefs	chief	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	32	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **go** | past | all slaves |  |  |  |  | about slaves's work; as usual | vn occur-48.3-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme about work=Location |
| 2 | **arrive** | past | the time |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **dig** | to-infinitive · passive |  | the new yams |  |  |  |  | vn poke-19-1-1-1 «NP V NP.theme»: subject=Theme |
| 4 | **is a** | past | which season | customary |  |  |  | for the people; suspicion *nsubj* | tree rules |
| 5 | **give** | to-infinitive |  | presents | slaves's chiefs |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent present=Theme to chief=Recipient |
| 6 | **work** |  | slaves *= slave* |  |  |  |  |  | nom work «act intransitive»: poss=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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