---
title: When the dowry is paid she is taken away from her lover, together wi… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: When the dowry is paid she is taken away from her lover, together with any children she may have had by him, and handed over to the husband by her parents, the question of the rightful ownership of the children being settled usually when they are old enough to leave their mother. Who acts: girl, chi
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Opening, sentence 52

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When the dowry is paid she is taken away from her lover, together with any children she may have had by him, and handed over to the husband by her parents, the question of the rightful ownership of the children being settled usually when they are old enough to leave their mother.

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**Who acts:** girl, children · **What happens:** pay, take away, have, hand over, settle, be · **To what, where:** dowry, girl, lover, husband, rightful ownership, mother

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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 (girl, 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:pg70959:1:52
# text = When the dowry is paid she is taken away from her lover, together with any children she may have had by him, and handed over to the husband by her parents, the question of the rightful ownership of the children being settled usually when they are old enough to leave their mother.
1	When	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	5	mark	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	dowry	dowry	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
4	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux:pass	_	_
5	paid	pay	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	21	advcl	_	_
6	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
7	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux:pass	_	_
8	taken	take	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	conj	_	_
9	away	away	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
10	from	from	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	12	nmod:poss	_	_
12	lover	lover	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
14	together	together	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
15	with	with	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	17	det	_	_
17	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	_
18	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
19	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	_
20	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	aux	_	_
21	had	have	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
22	by	by	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
23	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
26	handed	hand	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	21	conj	_	_
27	over	over	ADP	RP	_	26	compound:prt	_	_
28	to	to	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	husband	husband	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	_
31	by	by	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	33	nmod:poss	_	_
33	parents	parent	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	26	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	question	question	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	conj	_	_
37	of	of	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
38	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
39	rightful	rightful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	40	amod	_	_
40	ownership	ownership	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	nmod	_	_
41	of	of	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
42	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	43	det	_	_
43	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	45	obl	_	_
44	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	45	aux:pass	_	_
45	settled	settle	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	40	acl:relcl	_	_
46	usually	usually	ADV	RB	_	50	advmod	_	_
47	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	50	mark	_	_
48	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	50	nsubj	_	_
49	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	50	cop	_	_
50	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	45	advcl	_	_
51	enough	enough	ADV	RB	_	50	advmod	_	_
52	to	to	PART	TO	_	53	mark	_	_
53	leave	leave	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	50	advcl	_	_
54	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	55	nmod:poss	_	_
55	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	53	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
56	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	21	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pay** | present · passive |  | the dowry |  |  |  | with any children; together *property* | vn pay-68-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Asset |
| 2 | **take away** | present · passive |  | girl |  | girl's lover |  | away *property* | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP PP»: subject=Theme from lover=Initial\_Location |
| 3 | **have** | may · perfect | girl |  |  |  |  | by price | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **hand over** | participle | girl *not said here* |  | the husband |  |  | by girl's parents and the question of the rightful ownership | vn send-11.1-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent to husband=Destination |
| 5 | **settle** | gerund · passive |  | the rightful ownership *not said here* |  |  |  | of the children | vn correspond-36.1 «NP V» |
| 6 | **is** | present | children *= child* |  |  |  |  | enough, old, usually *property* | tree rules |
| 7 | **leave** | to-infinitive | children *= child* *not said here* | children's mother |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent mother=Theme |
| 8 | **question** |  |  | the rightful ownership |  |  |  |  | nom question «communication transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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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