---
title: Long ago, when the men, animals, and birds were living together, the… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: Long ago, when the men, animals, and birds were living together, there was a bush buck who was fine and strong; he was also a very quick runner. Who acts: birds, living, bush buck, man. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Ch
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 4, sentence 13

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Long ago, when the men, animals, and birds were living together, there was a bush buck who was fine and strong; he was also a very quick runner.

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**Who acts:** birds, living, bush buck, man · **What happens:** live together, be · **To what, where:** bush buck, quick runner

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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 4. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (birds, living, bush buck, man), 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:pg70959:21:13
# text = Long ago, when the men, animals, and birds were living together, there was a bush buck who was fine and strong; he was also a very quick runner.
1	Long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	2	advmod	_	_
2	ago	ago	ADV	RB	_	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
4	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	2	advmod	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
8	animals	animal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
11	birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	nsubj	_	_
12	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
13	living	live	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	20	csubj	_	_
14	together	together	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
16	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	17	expl	_	_
17	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	cop	_	_
18	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
19	bush	bush	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
20	buck	buck	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
21	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	23	nsubj	_	_
22	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	cop	_	_
23	fine	fine	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	acl:relcl	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
25	strong	strong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	33	punct	_	_
27	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	nsubj	_	_
28	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	33	cop	_	_
29	also	also	ADV	RB	_	33	advmod	_	_
30	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
31	very	very	ADV	RB	_	32	advmod	_	_
32	quick	quick	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	33	amod	_	_
33	runner	runner	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **live together** | past · progressive | birds |  |  |  |  | together *property* | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **is a** | past | living | a bush buck |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **is** | past | a bush buck |  |  |  |  | fine *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **be** |  | a bush buck *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **is a** | past | man | a quick runner |  |  |  |  | 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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