---
title: If the parents were satisfied, they would probably say that the chil… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: If the parents were satisfied, they would probably say that the child or children should belong to the father, but if, on the other hand, the presents were not large enough, they would most likely urge that the children of their daughter born before she was married should belong to her lawful husban
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Opening, sentence 49

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If the parents were satisfied, they would probably say that the child or children should belong to the father, but if, on the other hand, the presents were not large enough, they would most likely urge that the children of their daughter born before she was married should belong to her lawful husband.

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**Who acts:** parents, child, presents, children · **What happens:** be, say, belong, not be, urge, bear · **To what, where:** other hand, daughter, opinion, likely urge · **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 (parents, child, presents, 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:pg70959:1:49
# text = If the parents were satisfied, they would probably say that the child or children should belong to the father, but if, on the other hand, the presents were not large enough, they would most likely urge that the children of their daughter born before she was married should belong to her lawful husband.
1	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	parents	parent	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
4	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
5	satisfied	satisfied	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
7	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
8	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
9	probably	probably	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
10	say	say	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
11	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	child	child	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nsubj	_	_
14	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
15	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	conj	_	_
16	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
17	belong	belong	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	ccomp	_	_
18	to	to	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	41	punct	_	_
22	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	41	cc	_	_
23	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	34	mark	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
25	on	on	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
27	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	amod	_	_
28	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	presents	present	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	34	nsubj	_	_
32	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	34	cop	_	_
33	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	34	advmod	_	_
34	large	large	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	41	advcl	_	_
35	enough	enough	ADV	RB	_	34	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
37	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	41	nsubj	_	_
38	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	41	aux	_	_
39	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	40	advmod	_	_
40	likely	likely	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	41	amod	_	_
41	urge	urge	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	parataxis	_	_
42	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	54	obj	_	_
43	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	44	det	_	_
44	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	54	nsubj	_	_
45	of	of	ADP	IN	_	47	case	_	_
46	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	47	nmod:poss	_	_
47	daughter	daughter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	44	nmod	_	_
48	born	bear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	47	acl	_	_
49	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	52	mark	_	_
50	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	52	nsubj:pass	_	_
51	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	52	aux:pass	_	_
52	married	marry	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	48	advcl	_	_
53	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	54	aux	_	_
54	belong	belong	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	41	acl:relcl	_	_
55	to	to	ADP	IN	_	58	case	_	_
56	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	58	nmod:poss	_	_
57	lawful	lawful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	58	amod	_	_
58	husband	husband	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	54	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
59	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | the parents |  |  |  |  | satisfied *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | would | parents *= parent* |  |  |  |  | probably *property* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **belong** | should | the child or children |  |  |  |  | to the father | vn attend-107.4-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **not** **is** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | the presents |  |  | the other hand |  | enough, large *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **urge** | would | parents *= parent* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **bear** | participle |  | parents's daughter *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Experiencer |
| 7 | **marry** | past · passive |  | opinion |  |  |  |  | vn amalgamate-22.2-3-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 8 | **belong** | should | the children of parents's daughter | likely urge |  |  |  | to opinion's lawful husband | tree rules |

<!-- .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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