---
title: A long time ago, Chief Alankor was one of the head chiefs of Ikom, h… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: A long time ago, Chief Alankor was one of the head chiefs of Ikom, he was rich and powerful. Who acts: long time, 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 and the pr
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xv.--what Happened At Okuni When Anyone Was Killed By Accident., sentence 72

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A long time ago, Chief Alankor was one of the head chiefs of Ikom, he was rich and powerful.

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**Who acts:** long time, COCK · **What happens:** be · **To what, where:** one

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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 (long time, 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:pg70959:12:73
# text = A long time ago, Chief Alankor was one of the head chiefs of Ikom, he was rich and powerful.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
4	ago	ago	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
6	Chief	Chief	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	appos	_	_
7	Alankor	Alankor	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	flat	_	_
8	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
9	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	0	root	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
12	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	compound	_	_
13	chiefs	chief	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nmod	_	_
14	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	Ikom	Ikom	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	13	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
17	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
18	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	cop	_	_
19	rich	rich	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
21	powerful	powerful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | a long time | one |  |  |  | of the head chiefs of Ikom | tree rules |
| 2 | **is** | past | COCK |  |  |  |  | rich *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **be** |  | COCK *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

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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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