---
title: There appears to be a considerable divergence of opinion between the… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: There appears to be a considerable divergence of opinion between the chiefs and the young men as to whom the children brought forth by a woman before her marriage should belong. Who acts: children, girl. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Opening, with it
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Opening, sentence 43

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There appears to be a considerable divergence of opinion between the chiefs and the young men as to whom the children brought forth by a woman before her marriage should belong.

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**Who acts:** children, girl · **What happens:** appear, be, bring, belong, marry · **To what, where:** considerable divergence, children, 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 (children, girl), 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:pg70959:1:43
# text = There appears to be a considerable divergence of opinion between the chiefs and the young men as to whom the children brought forth by a woman before her marriage should belong.
1	There	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	2	expl	_	_
2	appears	appear	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
4	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	cop	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	considerable	considerable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	divergence	divergence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	xcomp	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	opinion	opinion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	_
10	between	between	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	chiefs	chief	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nmod	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
15	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	conj	_	_
17	as	as	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	to	to	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	whom	whom	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	2	obl	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	31	nsubj	_	_
22	brought	bring	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	21	acl	_	_
23	forth	forth	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	_
24	by	by	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	_
27	before	before	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	29	nmod:poss	_	_
29	marriage	marriage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	_
30	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	31	aux	_	_
31	belong	belong	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **appear** | present |  |  |  | there |  | whom *obl* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **is a** | to-infinitive |  | a considerable divergence |  |  |  | of opinion between the chiefs and the young men | tree rules |
| 3 | **bring** | participle |  | the children *not said here* |  | girl's marriage |  | by a woman; forth *property* | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent before marriage=Destination |
| 4 | **belong** | should | the children |  |  |  |  |  | vn attend-107.4-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **marry** |  | girl |  |  |  |  |  | nom marriage «state transitive»: poss=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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