---
title: The chief told Agbor that he had no right to kill his wife and child… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: The chief told Agbor that he had no right to kill his wife and children, and sentenced Agbor to be killed by degrees. Who acts: chief, Agbor, degrees. 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.
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xiv.--the Fate of Agbor the Hunter, Who Killed His Wife and Children., sentence 28

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The chief told Agbor that he had no right to kill his wife and children, and sentenced Agbor to be killed by degrees.

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**Who acts:** chief, Agbor, degrees · **What happens:** tell, have, kill, sentence · **To what, where:** Agbor, right, wife · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (chief, Agbor, degrees), 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:pg70959:11:28
# text = The chief told Agbor that he had no right to kill his wife and children, and sentenced Agbor to be killed by degrees.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	chief	chief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	Agbor	Agbor	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	iobj	_	_
5	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
6	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
7	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	ccomp	_	_
8	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	9	det	_	_
9	right	right	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
10	to	to	PART	TO	_	11	mark	_	_
11	kill	kill	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	acl	_	_
12	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	13	nmod:poss	_	_
13	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
15	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
18	sentenced	sentence	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
19	Agbor	Agbor	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	18	obj	_	_
20	to	to	PART	TO	_	22	mark	_	_
21	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	aux:pass	_	_
22	killed	kill	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	18	advcl	_	_
23	by	by	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	degrees	degree	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	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 |  | Agbor |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent agbor=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 2 | **have** | past | Agbor | no right |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent right=Patient |
| 3 | **kill** | to-infinitive | Agbor *not said here* | Agbor's wife and children |  |  |  |  | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wife=Theme |
| 4 | **sentence** | past | the chief *not said here* | Agbor |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **kill** | to-infinitive · passive | degrees |  |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer |

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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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