---
title: The chiefs then made a law that, for the future, whenever a man kill… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: The chiefs then made a law that, for the future, whenever a man killed another by accident, he should pay two slaves to the father of the dead man, but he should not be killed as he would have been if he had killed the man on purpose. Who acts: chiefs, man. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Sout
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xv.--what Happened At Okuni When Anyone Was Killed By Accident., sentence 10

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The chiefs then made a law that, for the future, whenever a man killed another by accident, he should pay two slaves to the father of the dead man, but he should not be killed as he would have been if he had killed the man on purpose.

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**Who acts:** chiefs, man · **What happens:** make, kill, pay, not kill · **To what, where:** law, another, two slaves, father

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This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xv.--what Happened At Okuni When Anyone Was Killed By Accident.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (chiefs, man), 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:pg70959:12:10
# text = The chiefs then made a law that, for the future, whenever a man killed another by accident, he should pay two slaves to the father of the dead man, but he should not be killed as he would have been if he had killed the man on purpose.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	chiefs	chief	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
3	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	4	advmod	_	_
4	made	make	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	law	law	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
7	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	6	dep	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
9	for	for	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	future	future	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
13	whenever	whenever	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	16	advmod	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nsubj	_	_
16	killed	kill	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
17	another	another	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	16	obj	_	_
18	by	by	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	accident	accident	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
21	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
22	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	23	aux	_	_
23	pay	pay	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	advcl	_	_
24	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	25	nummod	_	_
25	slaves	slave	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	obj	_	_
26	to	to	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	_
29	of	of	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
31	dead	dead	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	32	amod	_	_
32	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	39	punct	_	_
34	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	39	cc	_	_
35	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	39	nsubj:pass	_	_
36	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	39	aux	_	_
37	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	39	advmod	_	_
38	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	39	aux:pass	_	_
39	killed	kill	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	conj	_	_
40	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	48	mark	_	_
41	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	48	nsubj:pass	_	_
42	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	48	aux	_	_
43	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	48	aux	_	_
44	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	48	aux:pass	_	_
45	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	48	mark	_	_
46	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	48	nsubj:pass	_	_
47	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	48	aux	_	_
48	killed	kill	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	39	advcl	_	_
49	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	50	det	_	_
50	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	obj	_	_
51	on	on	ADP	IN	_	52	case	_	_
52	purpose	purpose	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	50	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | past | the chiefs | a law  that |  |  | then | for the future | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP P.asset»: agent=Agent law=Product for future=Asset |
| 2 | **kill** | past | a man | another |  |  |  | by accident; whenever *property* | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent another=Theme |
| 3 | **pay** | should | man | two slaves |  |  |  | to the father of the dead man | vn pay-68-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent slave=Asset |
| 4 | **not** **kill** | should · passive |  | father |  |  |  |  | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 5 | **kill** | would · perfect · passive |  | father |  |  |  | the man *obj* | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP ADJ»: subject=Experiencer man=Result |

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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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