---
title: In most of the Cross River towns above Abaragba there is no restrict… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: In most of the Cross River towns above Abaragba there is no restriction placed on young girls as to sexual intercourse, but when they are married twenty-five pieces of cloth (value 5s. per piece) would be paid as damages for adultery. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphin
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Opening, sentence 23

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In most of the Cross River towns above Abaragba there is no restriction placed on young girls as to sexual intercourse, but when they are married twenty-five pieces of cloth (value 5s. per piece) would be paid as damages for adultery.

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**What happens:** place, marry, be, pay · **To what, where:** restriction, customs, married five pieces

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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: 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:pg70959:1:23
# text = In most of the Cross River towns above Abaragba there is no restriction placed on young girls as to sexual intercourse, but when they are married twenty-five pieces of cloth (value 5s. per piece) would be paid as damages for adultery.
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	most	most	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	11	obl	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
5	Cross	Cross	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	River	River	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	towns	town	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nmod	_	_
8	above	above	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	Abaragba	Abaragba	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	_
10	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	11	expl	_	_
11	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	31	cop	_	_
12	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	13	det	_	_
13	restriction	restriction	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
14	placed	place	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	13	acl	_	_
15	on	on	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	girls	girl	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	obl	_	_
18	as	as	ADP	IN	ExtPos=ADP	21	case	_	_
19	to	to	ADP	IN	_	18	fixed	_	_
20	sexual	sexual	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	amod	_	_
21	intercourse	intercourse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
23	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
24	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	27	advmod	_	_
25	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj:pass	_	_
26	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	27	aux:pass	_	_
27	married	marry	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	31	amod	_	_
28	twenty	twenty	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	30	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	28	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	five	five	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	31	nummod	_	_
31	pieces	piece	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	43	nsubj:pass	_	_
32	of	of	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
33	cloth	cloth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	nmod	_	_
34	(	(	PUNCT	-LRB-	_	36	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	value	value	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	compound	_	_
36	5s	5	NOUN	NNS	Number=Ptan|NumForm=Combi|NumType=Card	31	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	31	punct	_	_
38	per	per	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
39	piece	piece	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	)	)	PUNCT	-RRB-	_	31	punct	_	_
41	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	43	aux	_	_
42	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	43	aux:pass	_	_
43	paid	pay	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
44	as	as	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
45	damages	damage	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	43	obl	_	_
46	for	for	ADP	IN	_	47	case	_	_
47	adultery	adultery	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	43	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **place** | participle |  | no restriction *not said here* |  |  |  | on young girls; as sexual intercourse | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V PP.destination NP»: agent=Agent on girl=Destination |
| 2 | **marry** | present · passive |  | customs *= custom* |  |  |  |  | vn amalgamate-22.2-3-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 3 | **is a** | present |  | married five pieces and value 5s |  |  |  | of cloth; per piece; value 5s *conj* | tree rules |
| 4 | **pay** | would · passive |  | married five pieces and value 5s |  |  |  | as damages; for adultery | vn pay-68-1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: subject=Asset for adultery=Theme |

<!-- .note -->
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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