--- title: He lived many years ago at the time when the Okuni people never eat… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics description: He lived many years ago at the time when the Okuni people never eat the cat-fish, as they thought it was a part of the water ju-ju, having such a smooth skin. Who acts: Chief, Okuni people, people, fish. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxxi.--chief Kek --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/24/2/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/) / [Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/24/) / 2 # Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 1, sentence 2 He lived many years ago at the time when the Okuni people never eat the cat-fish, as they thought it was a part of the water ju-ju, having such a smooth skin. **Who acts:** Chief, Okuni people, people, fish · **What happens:** live, not eat, think, be, have · **To what, where:** cat fish, part, smooth skin · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., 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 (Chief, Okuni people, people, fish), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong. ## The tree {#tree} ```conllu # sent_id = book:pg70959:24:2 # text = He lived many years ago at the time when the Okuni people never eat the cat-fish, as they thought it was a part of the water ju-ju, having such a smooth skin. 1 He he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 2 nsubj _ _ 2 lived live VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 3 many many ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 4 amod _ _ 4 years year NOUN NNS Number=Plur 5 obl:unmarked _ _ 5 ago ago ADV RB _ 2 advmod _ _ 6 at at ADP IN _ 8 case _ _ 7 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 8 det _ _ 8 time time NOUN NN Number=Sing 2 obl _ _ 9 when when SCONJ WRB _ 14 mark _ _ 10 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 12 det _ _ 11 Okuni Okuni PROPN NNP Number=Sing 12 compound _ _ 12 people people NOUN NNS Number=Plur 14 nsubj _ _ 13 never never ADV RB PronType=Neg 14 advmod _ _ 14 eat eat VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 8 acl:relcl _ _ 15 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 18 det _ _ 16 cat cat NOUN NN Number=Sing 18 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 17 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 16 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 18 fish fish NOUN NN Number=Sing 14 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 19 , , PUNCT , _ 22 punct _ _ 20 as as SCONJ IN _ 22 mark _ _ 21 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 22 nsubj _ _ 22 thought think VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 2 parataxis _ _ 23 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 26 nsubj _ _ 24 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 26 cop _ _ 25 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 26 det _ _ 26 part part NOUN NN Number=Sing 22 ccomp _ _ 27 of of ADP IN _ 32 case _ _ 28 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 32 det _ _ 29 water water NOUN NN Number=Sing 32 compound _ _ 30 ju ju NOUN NN Number=Sing 32 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 31 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 30 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 32 ju ju NOUN NN Number=Sing 26 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 33 , , PUNCT , _ 34 punct _ _ 34 having have VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 22 conj _ _ 35 such such DET PDT PronType=Ind 38 det:predet _ _ 36 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 38 det _ _ 37 smooth smooth ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 38 amod _ _ 38 skin skin NOUN NN Number=Sing 34 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 39 . . PUNCT . _ 2 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **live** | past | Chief | | | | time | ago *property* | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 2 | **not** **eat** | present | the Okuni people | the cat fish | | | | | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fish=Patient | | 3 | **think** *speech: other* | past | people | | | | | | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 4 | **is a** | past | fish | a part | | | | of the water ju ju | tree rules | | 5 | **have** | gerund | people *not said here* | such smooth skin | | | | | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent skin=Patient | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/24/1/) - next →: [sentence 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/24/3/) - ↑ back to [Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/24/)