---
title: The chief then told his wife that she was not to go out of the house… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: The chief then told his wife that she was not to go out of the house as she might give birth to the child when there was no one about to help her. Who acts: chief, wife, one. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xiii.--of Chief Amaza, His Wife Achi and the 
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xiii.--of Chief Amaza, His Wife Achi and the Tortoise., sentence 4

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The chief then told his wife that she was not to go out of the house as she might give birth to the child when there was no one about to help her.

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**Who acts:** chief, wife, one · **What happens:** tell, not be, give, be, help · **To what, where:** wife, house, birth, child · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xiii.--of Chief Amaza, His Wife Achi and the Tortoise.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (chief, wife, one), 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:pg70959:10:4
# text = The chief then told his wife that she was not to go out of the house as she might give birth to the child when there was no one about to help her.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	chief	chief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	4	advmod	_	_
4	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	iobj	_	_
7	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
8	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
9	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	cop	_	_
10	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	12	advmod	_	_
11	to	to	PART	TO	_	12	mark	_	_
12	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	xcomp	_	_
13	out	out	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
14	of	of	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	_
17	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	20	mark	_	_
18	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
19	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	20	aux	_	_
20	give	give	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	conj	_	_
21	birth	birth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obj	_	_
22	to	to	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	child	child	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	_
25	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	27	advmod	_	_
26	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	27	expl	_	_
27	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	advcl	_	_
28	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	29	det	_	_
29	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	nsubj	_	_
30	about	about	ADV	RB	_	32	advmod	_	_
31	to	to	PART	TO	_	32	mark	_	_
32	help	help	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	29	acl:relcl	_	_
33	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | the chief |  | Chief's wife |  | then |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent wife=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 2 | **not** **is** *not said to happen* | past | wife |  |  | the house |  | go *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **give** | might | wife | birth | the child |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent birth=Theme to child=Recipient |
| 4 | **be** | past | no one |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **help** | to-infinitive | no one *not said here* |  | wife |  |  | about *property* | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent she=Beneficiary |

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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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