---
title: So the porcupine set off and dived into the river and reported to th… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: So the porcupine set off and dived into the river and reported to the water ju-ju all that had happened. Who acts: porcupine, that. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Ix.--the Story of the War Between Inkum and Enfitop., with its dependency tree and the p
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Ix.--the Story of the War Between Inkum and Enfitop., sentence 151

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So the porcupine set off and dived into the river and reported to the water ju-ju all that had happened.

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**Who acts:** porcupine, that · **What happens:** set off, dive, report, happen · **To what, where:** river

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This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Ix.--the Story of the War Between Inkum and Enfitop.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (porcupine, that), 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:pg70959:7:151
# text = So the porcupine set off and dived into the river and reported to the water ju-ju all that had happened.
1	So	so	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	porcupine	porcupine	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	set	set	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	off	off	ADP	RP	_	4	compound:prt	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	dived	dive	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
8	into	into	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
12	reported	report	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	conj	_	_
13	to	to	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
15	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	compound	_	_
16	ju	ju	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	16	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	ju	ju	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	_
19	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	22	det:predet	_	_
20	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	22	nsubj	_	_
21	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	_
22	happened	happen	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	12	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **set off** | past | the porcupine |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **dive** | past | the porcupine *not said here* |  |  | the river |  |  | vn meander-47.7 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme into river=Location |
| 3 | **report** | participle | the porcupine *not said here* |  |  |  |  | to the water ju ju | vn subordinate-95.2.1 «NP V PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent to ju=Co-Agent |
| 4 | **happen** | past · perfect | that |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=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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