---
title: In the early morning, Osode turned himself into the snake, and place… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: In the early morning, Osode turned himself into the snake, and placed himself across the river with his tail on the Enfitop side and his head on the Inkum side, his back being out of water, so that the people could cross over in safety. Who acts: Osode, back, people. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Ix.--the Story of the War Between Inkum and Enfitop., sentence 83

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In the early morning, Osode turned himself into the snake, and placed himself across the river with his tail on the Enfitop side and his head on the Inkum side, his back being out of water, so that the people could cross over in safety.

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**Who acts:** Osode, back, people · **What happens:** turn, place, be, cross over · **To what, where:** Osode, river, water, safety

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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 (Osode, back, 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:pg70959:7:83
# text = In the early morning, Osode turned himself into the snake, and placed himself across the river with his tail on the Enfitop side and his head on the Inkum side, his back being out of water, so that the people could cross over in safety.
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	early	early	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	morning	morning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
6	Osode	Osode	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
7	turned	turn	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	7	obj	_	_
9	into	into	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	snake	snake	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
14	placed	place	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
15	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	14	obj	_	_
16	across	across	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	_
19	with	with	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	21	nmod:poss	_	_
21	tail	tail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	_
22	on	on	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
24	Enfitop	Enfitop	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	25	compound	_	_
25	side	side	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
27	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	28	nmod:poss	_	_
28	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	conj	_	_
29	on	on	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
31	Inkum	Inkum	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	32	compound	_	_
32	side	side	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
34	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	35	nmod:poss	_	_
35	back	back	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	nsubj	_	_
36	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	39	cop	_	_
37	out	out	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
38	of	of	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
39	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	46	punct	_	_
41	so	so	SCONJ	IN	ExtPos=SCONJ	46	mark	_	_
42	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	41	fixed	_	_
43	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	44	det	_	_
44	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	46	nsubj	_	_
45	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	46	aux	_	_
46	cross	cross	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	conj	_	_
47	over	over	ADV	RB	_	46	advmod	_	_
48	in	in	ADP	IN	_	49	case	_	_
49	safety	safety	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	46	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **turn** | past | Osode | Osode |  |  | morning | into the snake *result* | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V NP PP.result»: agent=Agent himself=Theme into snake=Result |
| 2 | **place** | past | Osode *not said here* | Osode |  | the river |  | with snake's tail; on the Enfitop side and snake's head on the Inkum side | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V PP.destination NP»: agent=Agent himself=Theme on side=Destination |
| 3 | **is** | gerund | snake's back |  |  | water |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **cross over** | could | the people |  |  | safety |  | over *property* | vn contiguous\_location-47.8-1 «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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