---
title: When the drum was beaten, the people assembled as usual, and discuss… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: When the drum was beaten, the people assembled as usual, and discussed amongst themselves to whom the meat of the tortoise should be given when he was killed. Who acts: people. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Ii.--the Cunning Hare; Or, Why the Tortoise
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Ii.--the Cunning Hare; Or, Why the Tortoise Has a Patched Shell., sentence 58

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When the drum was beaten, the people assembled as usual, and discussed amongst themselves to whom the meat of the tortoise should be given when he was killed.

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**Who acts:** people · **What happens:** beat, assemble, discuss, give, kill · **To what, where:** drum, meat, tortoise

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This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Ii.--the Cunning Hare; Or, Why the Tortoise Has a Patched Shell.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (people), 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:pg70959:4:58
# text = When the drum was beaten, the people assembled as usual, and discussed amongst themselves to whom the meat of the tortoise should be given when he was killed.
1	When	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	5	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	drum	drum	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux:pass	_	_
5	beaten	beat	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nsubj	_	_
9	assembled	assemble	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
10	as	as	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	usual	usual	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
14	discussed	discuss	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	conj	_	_
15	amongst	amongst	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	themselves	themselves	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	14	obl	_	_
17	to	to	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	whom	whom	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	14	obl	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	meat	meat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	nsubj:pass	_	_
21	of	of	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	tortoise	tortoise	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nmod	_	_
24	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	26	aux	_	_
25	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	26	aux:pass	_	_
26	given	give	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	18	acl:relcl	_	_
27	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	30	advmod	_	_
28	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj:pass	_	_
29	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	30	aux:pass	_	_
30	killed	kill	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	26	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **beat** | past · passive |  | the drum |  |  |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «PP.location V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 2 | **assemble** | past | the people |  |  |  |  | as usual | vn herd-47.5.2 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **discuss** *speech: other* | past | the people *not said here* |  |  |  |  | amongst people; whom *obl* | vn chit\_chat-37.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **give** | should · passive |  | the meat of the tortoise |  |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 5 | **kill** | past · passive |  | tortoise |  |  |  |  | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |

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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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