---
title: The chief then put his hand into the ju-ju pot containing water, rot… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: The chief then put his hand into the ju-ju pot containing water, rotten eggs, and mashed-up leaves and roots, and having stirred it well up, the fighting men all came up to him one after another, and he smeared them with the liquid on the forehead and breast. Who acts: chief, fighting men, man. A se
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Ix.--the Story of the War Between Inkum and Enfitop., sentence 45

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The chief then put his hand into the ju-ju pot containing water, rotten eggs, and mashed-up leaves and roots, and having stirred it well up, the fighting men all came up to him one after another, and he smeared them with the liquid on the forehead and breast.

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**Who acts:** chief, fighting men, man · **What happens:** put, contain, mash up, stir up, come up, smear · **To what, where:** hand, ju ju pot, one, Chief, roots, forehead

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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 (chief, fighting men, man), 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:pg70959:7:45
# text = The chief then put his hand into the ju-ju pot containing water, rotten eggs, and mashed-up leaves and roots, and having stirred it well up, the fighting men all came up to him one after another, and he smeared them with the liquid on the forehead and breast.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	chief	chief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	4	advmod	_	_
4	put	put	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
7	into	into	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
9	ju	ju	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	ju	ju	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	compound	_	_
12	pot	pot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
13	containing	contain	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	14	amod	_	_
14	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
16	rotten	rotten	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	eggs	egg	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
20	mashed	mash	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	23	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	22	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	up	up	ADP	RP	_	20	compound:prt	_	_
23	leaves	leaf	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	parataxis	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
25	roots	root	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
28	having	have	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	29	aux	_	_
29	stirred	stir	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	4	conj	_	_
30	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	obj	_	_
31	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	32	advmod	_	_
32	up	up	ADP	RP	_	29	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
35	fighting	fighting	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	compound	_	_
36	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	38	nsubj	_	_
37	all	all	ADV	RB	_	38	advmod	_	_
38	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
39	up	up	ADV	RB	_	38	advmod	_	_
40	to	to	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
41	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	38	obl	_	_
42	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	38	obl	_	_
43	after	after	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
44	another	another	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	42	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	48	punct	_	_
46	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	48	cc	_	_
47	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	48	nsubj	_	_
48	smeared	smear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	38	conj	_	_
49	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	48	obj	_	_
50	with	with	ADP	IN	_	52	case	_	_
51	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	52	det	_	_
52	liquid	liquid	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	obl	_	_
53	on	on	ADP	IN	_	55	case	_	_
54	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	55	det	_	_
55	forehead	forehead	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	obl	_	_
56	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	57	cc	_	_
57	breast	breast	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	55	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
58	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **put** | past | the chief | Chief's hand |  | the ju ju pot and containing water and rotten eggs | then | mashed leaves and roots *parataxis* | vn invest-13.5.4-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent hand=Goal |
| 2 | **contain** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprise-107.2-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot |
| 3 | **mash up** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn carve-21.2-1 «NP V ADVP-Middle»: agent=Patient |
| 4 | **stir up** | gerund · perfect | the chief *not said here* | hand |  |  |  |  | vn engender-27.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition it=Patient |
| 5 | **come up** | past | the fighting men | one after another | Chief |  |  | all *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to he=Initial\_Location |
| 6 | **smear** | past | man | roots *= root* |  | the forehead and breast |  | with the liquid | vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V NP.destination PP.theme»: agent=Agent they=Destination with liquid=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.

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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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