---
title: Those people who were very fond of ’Ndabu went so far as to touch hi… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: Those people who were very fond of ’Ndabu went so far as to touch his mouth with the food before they eat it. Who acts: people, Ndabu. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xii.--concerning the Okuni Witches and Cannibalism., with its dependency tree and the
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xii.--concerning the Okuni Witches and Cannibalism., sentence 111

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Those people who were very fond of ’Ndabu went so far as to touch his mouth with the food before they eat it.

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**Who acts:** people, Ndabu · **What happens:** be, go, touch, eat · **To what, where:** mouth, food

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This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xii.--concerning the Okuni Witches and Cannibalism.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (people, Ndabu), 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:pg70959:9:111
# text = Those people who were very fond of ’Ndabu went so far as to touch his mouth with the food before they eat it.
1	Those	that	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	2	det	_	_
2	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
3	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	6	nsubj	_	_
4	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
5	very	very	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	fond	fond	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
7	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
8	’	'	PUNCT	``	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	Ndabu	Ndabu	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
10	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	advcl	_	_
11	so	so	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
12	far	far	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	10	advmod	_	_
13	as	as	ADP	IN	_	10	obl	_	_
14	to	to	PART	TO	_	15	mark	_	_
15	touch	touch	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	advcl	_	_
16	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	17	nmod:poss	_	_
17	mouth	mouth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	_
18	with	with	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	_
21	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
22	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
23	eat	eat	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	15	advcl	_	_
24	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | that people |  |  |  |  | who *nsubj*; fond *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **go** | past | Ndabu |  |  |  |  | far *property* | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **touch** | to-infinitive | Ndabu *not said here* | Ndabu's mouth |  |  |  | with the food | vn touch-20-1 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent mouth=Experiencer with food=Instrument |
| 4 | **eat** | present | people | food |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Patient |

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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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