---
title: This conflict of opinion is not difficult to follow, as the young me… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: This conflict of opinion is not difficult to follow, as the young men are generally the fathers of the children born before marriage, and the old chiefs who are wealthy are generally the husbands, and both the putative fathers and the lawful husbands are anxious to possess the children. Who acts: co
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Opening, sentence 46

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This conflict of opinion is not difficult to follow, as the young men are generally the fathers of the children born before marriage, and the old chiefs who are wealthy are generally the husbands, and both the putative fathers and the lawful husbands are anxious to possess the children.

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**Who acts:** conflict, young men, old chiefs, both, putative fathers, opinion · **What happens:** not be, follow, be, bear, father, possess · **To what, where:** children, husbands

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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 (conflict, young men, old chiefs, both), 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:pg70959:1:46
# text = This conflict of opinion is not difficult to follow, as the young men are generally the fathers of the children born before marriage, and the old chiefs who are wealthy are generally the husbands, and both the putative fathers and the lawful husbands are anxious to possess the children.
1	This	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	2	det	_	_
2	conflict	conflict	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	opinion	opinion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
5	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
6	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	7	advmod	_	_
7	difficult	difficult	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
8	to	to	PART	TO	_	9	mark	_	_
9	follow	follow	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	csubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
11	as	as	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
13	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	nsubj	_	_
15	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	18	cop	_	_
16	generally	generally	ADV	RB	_	18	advmod	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	fathers	father	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obl	_	_
19	of	of	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	nmod	_	_
22	born	bear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	21	acl	_	_
23	before	before	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	marriage	marriage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
28	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
29	chiefs	chief	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	36	nsubj	_	_
30	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	32	nsubj	_	_
31	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	32	cop	_	_
32	wealthy	wealthy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	acl:relcl	_	_
33	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	36	cop	_	_
34	generally	generally	ADV	RB	_	36	advmod	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	husbands	husband	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	48	punct	_	_
38	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	48	cc	_	_
39	both	both	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	42	nsubj	_	_
40	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	42	det	_	_
41	putative	putative	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	42	amod	_	_
42	fathers	father	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	48	nsubj	_	_
43	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	46	cc	_	_
44	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	46	det	_	_
45	lawful	lawful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	46	amod	_	_
46	husbands	husband	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	42	conj	_	_
47	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	48	cop	_	_
48	anxious	anxious	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	conj	_	_
49	to	to	PART	TO	_	50	mark	_	_
50	possess	possess	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	48	csubj	_	_
51	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	52	det	_	_
52	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	50	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **is** | present | this conflict of opinion |  |  |  |  | difficult *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **follow** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **is** | present | the young men |  |  |  |  | as the fathers; of the children; generally *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **bear** | participle |  | the children *not said here* |  |  | before marriage |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Experiencer |
| 5 | **is** | present | the old chiefs |  |  |  |  | wealthy *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **is a** | present | the old chiefs | the husbands |  |  |  | generally *property* | tree rules |
| 7 | **father** |  | both |  |  |  |  | the lawful husbands *conj* | tree rules |
| 8 | **is** | present | the putative fathers and the lawful husbands |  |  |  |  | anxious *property* | tree rules |
| 9 | **possess** | to-infinitive |  | the children |  |  |  |  | vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot child=Theme |
| 10 | **conflict** |  | opinion |  |  |  |  |  | nom conflict «act intransitive»: of=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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