---
title: The word “dowry” comes frequently into these tales, and is used as m… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: The word “dowry” comes frequently into these tales, and is used as meaning the amount paid to the parents of the girl by the husband. Who acts: word. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Opening, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Opening, sentence 14

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The word “dowry” comes frequently into these tales, and is used as meaning the amount paid to the parents of the girl by the husband.

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**Who acts:** word · **What happens:** come, use, mean, pay · **To what, where:** tales, amount

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This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Opening. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (word), 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:pg70959:1:14
# text = The word “dowry” comes frequently into these tales, and is used as meaning the amount paid to the parents of the girl by the husband.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
3	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	dowry	dowry	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
6	comes	come	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	frequently	frequently	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
8	into	into	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	these	this	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	10	det	_	_
10	tales	tale	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
13	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	14	aux:pass	_	_
14	used	use	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	conj	_	_
15	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	16	mark	_	_
16	meaning	mean	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	14	advcl	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	amount	amount	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obj	_	_
19	paid	pay	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	18	acl	_	_
20	to	to	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	parents	parent	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	obl	_	_
23	of	of	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	girl	girl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nmod	_	_
26	by	by	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	husband	husband	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come** | present | the word |  |  | this tales |  | frequently *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme into tale=Initial\_Location |
| 2 | **use** | present · passive | the word *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1 «NP V» |
| 3 | **mean** | gerund | the word *not said here* | the amount |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent amount=Topic |
| 4 | **pay** | participle |  | the amount *not said here* |  |  |  | to the parents of the girl; by the husband | vn pay-68-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

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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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