---
title: XVII.--HOW CHIEF ALANKOR AND ALL HIS FAMILY WERE KILLED BY A BIG FRO… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: XVII.--HOW CHIEF ALANKOR AND ALL HIS FAMILY WERE KILLED BY A BIG FROG, OR WHY THE COCK CROWS AT DAWN. Who acts: BIG FROG, COCK. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xv.--what Happened At Okuni When Anyone Was Killed By Accident., with its dependency tree an
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xv.--what Happened At Okuni When Anyone Was Killed By Accident., sentence 71

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XVII.--HOW CHIEF ALANKOR AND ALL HIS FAMILY WERE KILLED BY A BIG FROG, OR WHY THE COCK CROWS AT DAWN.

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**Who acts:** BIG FROG, COCK · **What happens:** kill, crow · **To what, where:** XVII

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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 (BIG FROG, COCK), 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:pg70959:12:72
# text = XVII.--HOW CHIEF ALANKOR AND ALL HIS FAMILY WERE KILLED BY A BIG FROG, OR WHY THE COCK CROWS AT DAWN.
1	XVII	xvii	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj:pass	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	HOW	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	5	advmod	_	_
5	CHIEF	chief	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	ALANKOR	ALANKOR	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	1	conj	_	_
7	AND	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
8	ALL	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	10	det:predet	_	_
9	HIS	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	10	nmod:poss	_	_
10	FAMILY	family	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	conj	_	_
11	WERE	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	aux:pass	_	_
12	KILLED	kill	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
13	BY	by	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
14	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
15	BIG	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	FROG	frog	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
18	OR	or	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
19	WHY	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	22	advmod	_	_
20	THE	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	COCK	cock	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nsubj	_	_
22	CROWS	crow	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	12	advcl	_	_
23	AT	at	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	DAWN	DAWN	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	12	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **kill** | past · passive | a BIG FROG | XVII and CHIEF ALANKOR and ALANKOR's FAMILY |  |  |  |  | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme |
| 2 | **crow** | present | the COCK |  |  |  | at DAWN |  | vn animal\_sounds-38 «NP V PP.stimulus»: agent=Agent at dawn=Stimulus |

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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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