---
title: All this time Chief ’Ndabu had been making sacrifices to his ju-ju t… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: All this time Chief ’Ndabu had been making sacrifices to his ju-ju to protect him against witchcraft, and he used to call all his sons together to sit round the ju-ju while the sacrifices were being made, but Amoru sat outside as he was afraid to go near his father’s ju-ju on account of the witch in
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xii.--concerning the Okuni Witches and Cannibalism., sentence 57

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All this time Chief ’Ndabu had been making sacrifices to his ju-ju to protect him against witchcraft, and he used to call all his sons together to sit round the ju-ju while the sacrifices were being made, but Amoru sat outside as he was afraid to go near his father’s ju-ju on account of the witch in him.

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**Who acts:** Chief, Amoru · **What happens:** make, protect, use, call, sit, be · **To what, where:** sacrifices, chief, sons, ju ju, witch · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (Chief, Amoru), 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:pg70959:9:57
# text = All this time Chief ’Ndabu had been making sacrifices to his ju-ju to protect him against witchcraft, and he used to call all his sons together to sit round the ju-ju while the sacrifices were being made, but Amoru sat outside as he was afraid to go near his father’s ju-ju on account of the witch in him.
1	All	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	3	det:predet	_	_
2	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	3	det	_	_
3	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl:unmarked	_	_
4	Chief	Chief	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
5	’	's	PART	POS	_	4	case	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	Ndabu	Ndabu	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	flat	_	_
7	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
8	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	9	aux	_	_
9	making	make	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
10	sacrifices	sacrifice	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obj	_	_
11	to	to	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
12	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	15	nmod:poss	_	_
13	ju	ju	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	ju	ju	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
16	to	to	PART	TO	_	17	mark	_	_
17	protect	protect	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	advcl	_	_
18	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	obj	_	_
19	against	against	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
20	witchcraft	witchcraft	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
23	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
24	used	use	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	parataxis	_	_
25	to	to	PART	TO	_	26	mark	_	_
26	call	call	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	24	xcomp	_	_
27	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	29	det:predet	_	_
28	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	29	nmod:poss	_	_
29	sons	son	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	26	obj	_	_
30	together	together	ADV	RB	_	26	advmod	_	_
31	to	to	PART	TO	_	32	mark	_	_
32	sit	sit	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	26	advcl	_	_
33	round	round	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
35	ju	ju	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	35	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	ju	ju	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obl	_	_
38	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	43	mark	_	_
39	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
40	sacrifices	sacrifice	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	43	nsubj:pass	_	_
41	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	43	aux:pass	_	_
42	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	43	aux:pass	_	_
43	made	make	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	32	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	47	punct	_	_
45	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	47	cc	_	_
46	Amoru	Amoru	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	47	nsubj	_	_
47	sat	sit	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	conj	_	_
48	outside	outside	ADV	RB	_	47	advmod	_	_
49	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	52	mark	_	_
50	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	52	nsubj	_	_
51	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	52	cop	_	_
52	afraid	afraid	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	47	advcl	_	_
53	to	to	PART	TO	_	54	mark	_	_
54	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	52	xcomp	_	_
55	near	near	ADP	IN	_	61	case	_	_
56	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	57	nmod:poss	_	_
57	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	61	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
58	’s	's	PART	POS	_	57	case	_	_
59	ju	ju	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	61	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
60	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	59	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
61	ju	ju	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	54	obl	_	_
62	on	on	ADP	IN	_	63	case	_	_
63	account	account	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	54	obl	_	_
64	of	of	ADP	IN	_	66	case	_	_
65	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	66	det	_	_
66	witch	witch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	63	nmod	_	_
67	in	in	ADP	IN	_	68	case	_	_
68	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	66	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
69	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | past · perfect · progressive | Chief | sacrifices |  |  | time | to chief's ju ju | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sacrifice=Product |
| 2 | **protect** | to-infinitive | Chief *not said here* |  | chief |  |  | against witchcraft | vn defend-72.3 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent he=Beneficiary against witchcraft=Theme |
| 3 | **use** | past | chief |  |  |  |  |  | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 4 | **call** | to-infinitive | chief *not said here* |  | chief's sons |  |  | together *property* | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent son=Recipient |
| 5 | **sit** | to-infinitive | chief *not said here* |  |  |  |  | round the ju ju | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **make** | past · passive |  | the sacrifices |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: subject=Product |
| 7 | **sit** | past | Amoru |  |  |  |  | outside *property* | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 8 | **is** | past | Amoru |  |  |  |  | afraid *property* | tree rules |
| 9 | **go** | to-infinitive | Amoru *not said here* |  |  | Amoru's father's ju ju |  | on account of the witch in Amoru | vn occur-48.3-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme near ju=Location |
| 10 | **account** |  |  | the witch in Amoru |  |  |  |  | nom account «communication transitive»: of=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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