---
title: The hunting law was that, during the hunting time, the men might eat… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: The hunting law was that, during the hunting time, the men might eat the meat of the animals they killed, but they were not allowed to eat any fish, and the women might eat fish only, and not eat any meat from animals killed hunting. Who acts: hunting law, men, women, animals. A sentence of «Ikom fo
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/25/37/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[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/pg70959/25/) / 37

# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 2, sentence 37

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The hunting law was that, during the hunting time, the men might eat the meat of the animals they killed, but they were not allowed to eat any fish, and the women might eat fish only, and not eat any meat from animals killed hunting.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** hunting law, men, women, animals · **What happens:** be, kill, not allow, eat, not eat · **To what, where:** animals, men, fish, meat, hunting

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (hunting law, men, women, animals), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg70959:25:37
# text = The hunting law was that, during the hunting time, the men might eat the meat of the animals they killed, but they were not allowed to eat any fish, and the women might eat fish only, and not eat any meat from animals killed hunting.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	hunting	hunting	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	law	law	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nsubj	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	cop	_	_
5	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
7	during	during	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	hunting	hunting	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	compound	_	_
10	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	nsubj	_	_
14	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
15	eat	eat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	meat	meat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	_
18	of	of	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	animals	animal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	nmod	_	_
21	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
22	killed	kill	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
24	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
25	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj:pass	_	_
26	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	28	aux:pass	_	_
27	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	28	advmod	_	_
28	allowed	allow	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	15	conj	_	_
29	to	to	PART	TO	_	30	mark	_	_
30	eat	eat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	28	xcomp	_	_
31	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	32	det	_	_
32	fish	fish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
34	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	38	cc	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	women	woman	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	38	nsubj	_	_
37	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	38	aux	_	_
38	eat	eat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	conj	_	_
39	fish	fish	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	38	obj	_	_
40	only	only	ADV	RB	_	38	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	44	punct	_	_
42	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	44	cc	_	_
43	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	44	advmod	_	_
44	eat	eat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	conj	_	_
45	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	46	det	_	_
46	meat	meat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	44	obj	_	_
47	from	from	ADP	IN	_	48	case	_	_
48	animals	animal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	44	obl	_	_
49	killed	kill	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	48	acl	_	_
50	hunting	hunting	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	49	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	15	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | might · past | the hunting law |  |  |  | time | the men *nsubj*; the meat of the animals *obj*; eat *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **kill** | past | men *= man* | the animals *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent animal=Theme |
| 3 | **not** **allow** | past · passive |  | men *= man* |  |  |  |  | vn allow-64.1-1 «NP V NP S»: subject=Beneficiary clause=Eventuality |
| 4 | **eat** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | men *= man* *not said here* | any fish |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fish=Patient |
| 5 | **eat** | might | the women | fish |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fish=Patient |
| 6 | **not** **eat** | infinitive | the hunting law *not said here* | any meat |  |  |  | from animals | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent meat=Patient |
| 7 | **kill** | participle | animals *not said here* | hunting |  |  |  |  | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent hunting=Theme |

<!-- .note -->
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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 36](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/25/36/)
- next →: [sentence 38](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/25/38/)
- ↑ back to [Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/25/)