---
title: The head of the man who was first sacrificed before the war commence… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: The head of the man who was first sacrificed before the war commenced was not eaten, but was left on the ground in front of the ju-ju as his share. Who acts: Chief. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Ix.--the Story of the War Between Inkum and Enfitop., w
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Ix.--the Story of the War Between Inkum and Enfitop., sentence 69

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The head of the man who was first sacrificed before the war commenced was not eaten, but was left on the ground in front of the ju-ju as his share.

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**Who acts:** Chief · **What happens:** sacrifice, commence, not eat, leave, share · **To what, where:** man, head, ground

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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), 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:pg70959:7:69
# text = The head of the man who was first sacrificed before the war commenced was not eaten, but was left on the ground in front of the ju-ju as his share.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nsubj	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
6	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	9	nsubj:pass	_	_
7	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	aux:pass	_	_
8	first	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	9	advmod	_	_
9	sacrificed	sacrifice	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	acl:relcl	_	_
10	before	before	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	war	war	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
13	commenced	commence	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
14	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	aux:pass	_	_
15	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	16	advmod	_	_
16	eaten	eat	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
18	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
19	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	aux:pass	_	_
20	left	leave	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	16	conj	_	_
21	on	on	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	_
24	in	in	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
25	front	front	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	_
26	of	of	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
28	ju	ju	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	28	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	ju	ju	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nmod	_	_
31	as	as	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	33	nmod:poss	_	_
33	share	share	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	16	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sacrifice** | past · passive |  | the man |  |  | before the war | first *property* | vn contribute-13.2-1-1 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: subject=Theme |
| 2 | **commence** | past |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |
| 3 | **not** **eat** | past · passive |  | the head of the man |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 4 | **leave** | past · passive |  |  |  | the ground |  | in front of the ju ju *result*; as Chief's share | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: in front=Result |
| 5 | **share** |  | Chief |  |  |  |  |  | nom share «possession transitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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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