---
title: Most of the old chiefs say that such children should go to the man w… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: Most of the old chiefs say that such children should go to the man who marries the mother and pays the dowry, as children are a valuable asset. Who acts: Most, such children, man, children. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Opening, with its dependency t
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Opening, sentence 44

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Most of the old chiefs say that such children should go to the man who marries the mother and pays the dowry, as children are a valuable asset.

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**Who acts:** Most, such children, man, children · **What happens:** say, go, marry, pay, be · **To what, where:** mother, dowry, valuable asset · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (Most, such children, man, children), 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:pg70959:1:44
# text = Most of the old chiefs say that such children should go to the man who marries the mother and pays the dowry, as children are a valuable asset.
1	Most	most	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	6	nsubj	_	_
2	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	chiefs	chief	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	nmod	_	_
6	say	say	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
8	such	such	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	nsubj	_	_
10	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
11	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	ccomp	_	_
12	to	to	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	_
15	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	16	nsubj	_	_
16	marries	marry	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	14	acl:relcl	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obj	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
20	pays	pay	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	16	conj	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	dowry	dowry	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
24	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	29	mark	_	_
25	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	nsubj	_	_
26	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	29	cop	_	_
27	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
28	valuable	valuable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
29	asset	asset	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | Most of the old chiefs |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **go** | should | such children |  |  |  |  | to the man | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to man=Initial\_Location |
| 3 | **marry** | present | the man | the mother |  |  |  |  | vn amalgamate-22.2-3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent mother=Patient |
| 4 | **pay** | present | the man *not said here* | the dowry |  |  |  |  | vn pay-68-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent dowry=Asset |
| 5 | **is a** | present | children | a valuable asset |  |  |  |  | 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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