---
title: In the introduction to my _Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria_, publ… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: In the introduction to my _Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria_, published in 1910, Mr. Andrew Lang suggests that the term “bride-price” would better express the institution, and, no doubt, he is perfectly right. Who acts: Andrew, term, doubt. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» b
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Opening, sentence 15

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In the introduction to my \_Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria\_, published in 1910, Mr. Andrew Lang suggests that the term “bride-price” would better express the institution, and, no doubt, he is perfectly right.

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**Who acts:** Andrew, term, doubt · **What happens:** publish, suggest, express, be · **To what, where:** Southern Nigeria, 1910, introduction, institution

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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 (Andrew, term, doubt), 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:pg70959:1:15
# text = In the introduction to my _Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria_, published in 1910, Mr. Andrew Lang suggests that the term “bride-price” would better express the institution, and, no doubt, he is perfectly right.
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	introduction	introduction	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	_
4	to	to	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
5	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
6	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	Folk	folk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	_
8	Stories	story	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nmod	_	_
9	from	from	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	Southern	Southern	PROPN	NNP	_	11	flat	_	_
11	Nigeria	Nigeria	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
14	published	publish	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	11	acl	_	_
15	in	in	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	1910	1910	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	14	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
18	Mr.	Mr.	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	19	nmod:desc	_	_
19	Andrew	Andrew	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	21	nsubj	_	_
20	Lang	Lang	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	19	flat	_	_
21	suggests	suggest	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
22	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	32	mark	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	term	term	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	nsubj	_	_
25	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	28	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	bride	bride	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	26	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	price	price	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	28	punct	_	_
30	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	32	aux	_	_
31	better	well	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	32	advmod	_	_
32	express	express	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	advcl	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	institution	institution	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	44	punct	_	_
36	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	44	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	39	punct	_	_
38	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	39	det	_	_
39	doubt	doubt	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	44	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	39	punct	_	_
41	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	44	nsubj	_	_
42	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	44	cop	_	_
43	perfectly	perfectly	ADV	RB	_	44	advmod	_	_
44	right	right	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	21	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **publish** | participle |  | Southern Nigeria *not said here* |  | 1910 |  |  | vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **suggest** *speech: suggest* | present | Andrew  Mr. |  |  | the introduction to my Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **express** | would | the term | the institution |  |  |  | well *property* | vn reflexive\_appearance-48.1.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent institution=Theme |
| 4 | **is** | present | no doubt |  |  |  |  | term *nsubj*; perfectly, right *property* | tree rules |

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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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