---
title: The water ju-ju said the head chief had done quite right to kill the… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: The water ju-ju said the head chief had done quite right to kill the seven boys, as, had he not done so, he would have made the people suffer very much. Who acts: water, head chief, Chief, people. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Ix.--the Story of the W
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Ix.--the Story of the War Between Inkum and Enfitop., sentence 152

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The water ju-ju said the head chief had done quite right to kill the seven boys, as, had he not done so, he would have made the people suffer very much.

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**Who acts:** water, head chief, Chief, people · **What happens:** say, do, kill, have, not do, make · **To what, where:** seven boys · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (water, head chief, Chief, 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:pg70959:7:152
# text = The water ju-ju said the head chief had done quite right to kill the seven boys, as, had he not done so, he would have made the people suffer very much.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
3	ju	ju	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	ju	ju	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	flat	_	_
6	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	compound	_	_
9	chief	chief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
10	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
11	done	do	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	6	ccomp	_	_
12	quite	quite	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
13	right	right	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
14	to	to	PART	TO	_	15	mark	_	_
15	kill	kill	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	advcl	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
17	seven	seven	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	18	nummod	_	_
18	boys	boy	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
20	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
22	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	parataxis	_	_
23	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
24	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	25	advmod	_	_
25	done	do	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	22	xcomp	_	_
26	so	so	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
28	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
29	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	31	aux	_	_
30	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	31	aux	_	_
31	made	make	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	22	conj	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	34	nsubj	_	_
34	suffer	suffer	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	31	conj	_	_
35	very	very	ADV	RB	_	36	advmod	_	_
36	much	much	ADV	RB	_	34	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	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 water |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **do** | past · perfect | the head chief |  |  |  |  | right *property* | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **kill** | to-infinitive | the head chief *not said here* | the seven boys |  |  |  |  | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent boy=Theme |
| 4 | **have** | past |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **not** **do** | participle | Chief |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **make** | would · perfect | Chief |  |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **suffer** | present | the people |  |  |  |  |  | vn marvel-31.3 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |

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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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