---
title: It may be of interest to the reader to state here briefly the usual… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: It may be of interest to the reader to state here briefly the usual form of marriage in vogue in this district as the point of several of the tales turns on the position of the woman with reference to her husband or lover. Who acts: adultery. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» b
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Opening, sentence 25

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It may be of interest to the reader to state here briefly the usual form of marriage in vogue in this district as the point of several of the tales turns on the position of the woman with reference to her husband or lover.

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**Who acts:** adultery · **What happens:** be, state, turn, form · **To what, where:** usual form, district, position, marriage

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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 (adultery), 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:pg70959:1:25
# text = It may be of interest to the reader to state here briefly the usual form of marriage in vogue in this district as the point of several of the tales turns on the position of the woman with reference to her husband or lover.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
2	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	cop	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	interest	interest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	to	to	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	reader	reader	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	state	state	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	31	advcl	_	_
11	here	here	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	10	advmod	_	_
12	briefly	briefly	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
14	usual	usual	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	form	form	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	_
16	of	of	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	marriage	marriage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nmod	_	_
18	in	in	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	vogue	vogue	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nmod	_	_
20	in	in	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	22	det	_	_
22	district	district	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	_
23	as	as	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	point	point	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obl	_	_
26	of	of	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
27	several	several	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	nmod	_	_
28	of	of	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	tales	tale	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	27	obl	_	_
31	turns	turn	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
32	on	on	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	position	position	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obl	_	_
35	of	of	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
36	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
37	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	nmod	_	_
38	with	with	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
39	reference	reference	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	nmod	_	_
40	to	to	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
41	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	42	nmod:poss	_	_
42	husband	husband	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obl	_	_
43	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	44	cc	_	_
44	lover	lover	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | may | adultery |  |  |  |  | of interest; to the reader | tree rules |
| 2 | **state** *speech: other* | to-infinitive |  | the usual form of marriage in vogue |  | this district; here |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **turn** | present |  |  |  | the position of the woman with reference |  | as the point of several of the tales; to woman's husband or lover | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V PP.trajectory»: agent=Theme on position=Trajectory |
| 4 | **form** |  |  | marriage in vogue |  |  |  |  | nom form «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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