---
title: In the year 1909, while I was Political Officer on the Anglo-German… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: In the year 1909, while I was Political Officer on the Anglo-German Boundary Commission, I marched up through the Munchi country into Northern Nigeria, and back again, being absent from my district altogether about six months. Who acts: I. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by E
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Opening, sentence 95

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In the year 1909, while I was Political Officer on the Anglo-German Boundary Commission, I marched up through the Munchi country into Northern Nigeria, and back again, being absent from my district altogether about six months.

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**Who acts:** I · **What happens:** be, march up · **To what, where:** Political Officer, German Boundary Commission, Munchi country, district

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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 (I), 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:pg70959:1:95
# text = In the year 1909, while I was Political Officer on the Anglo-German Boundary Commission, I marched up through the Munchi country into Northern Nigeria, and back again, being absent from my district altogether about six months.
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	year	year	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	_
4	1909	1909	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	3	flat	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
6	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
7	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
8	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	cop	_	_
9	Political	political	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	Officer	officer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	appos	_	_
11	on	on	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
13	Anglo	Anglo	X	AFX	_	15	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	German	German	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
16	Boundary	Boundary	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	17	compound	_	_
17	Commission	Commission	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
19	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
20	marched	march	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
21	up	up	ADP	RP	_	20	compound:prt	_	_
22	through	through	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
24	Munchi	Munchi	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	25	compound	_	_
25	country	country	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	_
26	into	into	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	Northern	Northern	ADJ	NNP	Degree=Pos	28	amod	_	_
28	Nigeria	Nigeria	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
30	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
31	back	back	ADV	RB	_	32	advmod	_	_
32	again	again	ADV	RB	_	35	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
34	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	35	cop	_	_
35	absent	absent	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	parataxis	_	_
36	from	from	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
37	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	38	nmod:poss	_	_
38	district	district	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	obl	_	_
39	altogether	altogether	ADV	RB	_	35	advmod	_	_
40	about	about	ADV	RB	_	41	advmod	_	_
41	six	six	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	42	nummod	_	_
42	months	month	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	35	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	20	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | I | Political Officer |  | the German Boundary Commission |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **march up** | past | I |  |  | the Munchi country | year | into Northern Nigeria *result* | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.result»: agent=Theme into nigeria=Result |
| 3 | **is** | gerund |  |  |  | my district | again; month | absent, altogether *property* | 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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