---
title: Agbor was an Okuni man, and was married to a woman named Awo, by who… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: Agbor was an Okuni man, and was married to a woman named Awo, by whom he had two children, but they were both girls, much to his annoyance, as he wanted a boy who would be able to help him with his work when he grew up. Who acts: Agbor, children, boy. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern N
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xiv.--the Fate of Agbor the Hunter, Who Killed His Wife and Children., sentence 1

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Agbor was an Okuni man, and was married to a woman named Awo, by whom he had two children, but they were both girls, much to his annoyance, as he wanted a boy who would be able to help him with his work when he grew up.

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**Who acts:** Agbor, children, boy · **What happens:** be, marry, name, have, want, help · **To what, where:** Okuni man, woman, two children, girls, boy

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This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xiv.--the Fate of Agbor the Hunter, Who Killed His Wife and Children.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Agbor, children, boy), 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:pg70959:11:1
# text = Agbor was an Okuni man, and was married to a woman named Awo, by whom he had two children, but they were both girls, much to his annoyance, as he wanted a boy who would be able to help him with his work when he grew up.
1	Agbor	Agbor	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	Okuni	Okuni	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	_
5	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
8	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	aux:pass	_	_
9	married	marry	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	acl:relcl	_	_
10	to	to	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
13	named	name	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	12	acl	_	_
14	Awo	Awo	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	13	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
16	by	by	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	whom	whom	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	9	conj	_	_
18	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
19	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	acl:relcl	_	_
20	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	21	nummod	_	_
21	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
23	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
24	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
25	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	cop	_	_
26	both	both	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	27	det	_	_
27	girls	girl	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
29	much	much	ADV	RB	_	32	advmod	_	_
30	to	to	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	32	nmod:poss	_	_
32	annoyance	annoyance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
34	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	36	mark	_	_
35	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	36	nsubj	_	_
36	wanted	want	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
37	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
38	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	obj	_	_
39	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	42	nsubj	_	_
40	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	42	aux	_	_
41	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	42	cop	_	_
42	able	able	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	38	acl:relcl	_	_
43	to	to	PART	TO	_	44	mark	_	_
44	help	help	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	42	xcomp	_	_
45	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	44	obj	_	_
46	with	with	ADP	IN	_	48	case	_	_
47	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	48	nmod:poss	_	_
48	work	work	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	44	obl	_	_
49	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	51	advmod	_	_
50	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	51	nsubj	_	_
51	grew	grow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	36	conj	_	_
52	up	up	ADP	RP	_	51	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | Agbor | a Okuni man |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **marry** | past · passive |  | a Okuni man *not said here* |  |  |  | to a woman; a Okuni man *conj* | vn amalgamate-22.2-3-1-1 «NP V NP PP.co-patient»: to woman=Co-Patient |
| 3 | **name** | participle |  | a woman *not said here* |  |  |  | Awo *xcomp* | vn appoint-29.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **have** | past | Agbor | two children |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent child=Patient |
| 5 | **is a** | past | children *= child* | both girls and Agbor's annoyance |  |  |  | Agbor's annoyance *conj* | tree rules |
| 6 | **want** | past | Agbor | a boy |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot boy=Theme |
| 7 | **is** | would | a boy |  |  |  |  | able *property* | tree rules |
| 8 | **help** | to-infinitive | a boy *not said here* |  | boy |  |  | with Agbor's work | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent he=Beneficiary with work=Theme |
| 9 | **grow up** | past | Agbor |  |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 10 | **annoy** |  | Agbor |  |  |  |  |  | nom annoyance «state transitive»: poss=agent |
| 11 | **work** |  | Agbor |  |  |  |  |  | nom work «act intransitive»: poss=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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