---
title: But the chief said, “No one ever eats that fish, as it has a smooth… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: But the chief said, “No one ever eats that fish, as it has a smooth skin and is part of the water ju-ju. Who acts: chief, one, soup. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 2, with its dependenc
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 2, sentence 16

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But the chief said, “No one ever eats that fish, as it has a smooth skin and is part of the water ju-ju.

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**Who acts:** chief, one, soup · **What happens:** say, eat, have, be · **To what, where:** fish, smooth skin, part · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (chief, one, soup), 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:pg70959:25:16
# text = But the chief said, “No one ever eats that fish, as it has a smooth skin and is part of the water ju-ju.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	chief	chief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
6	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	No	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	8	det	_	_
8	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
9	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	10	advmod	_	_
10	eats	eat	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	ccomp	_	_
11	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
12	fish	fish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
14	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	16	mark	_	_
15	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
16	has	have	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	conj	_	_
17	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
18	smooth	smooth	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
19	skin	skin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obj	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
21	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	22	cop	_	_
22	part	part	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	conj	_	_
23	of	of	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
25	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	compound	_	_
26	ju	ju	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	26	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	ju	ju	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the chief |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **eat** *in a quote* | present | no one | fish |  |  | ever |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fish=Patient |
| 3 | **have** *in a quote* | present | soup | a smooth skin |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent skin=Patient |
| 4 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | soup *not said here* | part |  |  |  | of the water ju ju | 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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