---
title: This chief had five wives and several children by each, but he disli… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: This chief had five wives and several children by each, but he disliked them all with the exception of the last born whose name was Eba. Who acts: chief, COCK, Eba. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xv.--what Happened At Okuni When Anyone Was Killed By A
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xv.--what Happened At Okuni When Anyone Was Killed By Accident., sentence 73

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This chief had five wives and several children by each, but he disliked them all with the exception of the last born whose name was Eba.

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**Who acts:** chief, COCK, Eba · **What happens:** have, dislike, bear, be, name · **To what, where:** five wives, children, Eba

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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 (chief, COCK, Eba), 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:pg70959:12:74
# text = This chief had five wives and several children by each, but he disliked them all with the exception of the last born whose name was Eba.
1	This	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	2	det	_	_
2	chief	chief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	five	five	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	5	nummod	_	_
5	wives	wife	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
7	several	several	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	conj	_	_
9	by	by	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
12	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
13	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
14	disliked	dislike	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
15	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	obj	_	_
16	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	15	nmod:unmarked	_	_
17	with	with	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	exception	exception	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	_
20	of	of	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
22	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
23	born	bear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	25	amod	_	_
24	whose	whose	PRON	WP$	Poss=Yes|PronType=Rel	25	nmod:poss	_	_
25	name	name	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	_
26	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	cop	_	_
27	Eba	Eba	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	19	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past | this chief | five wives and several children |  |  |  | by each | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wife=Patient |
| 2 | **dislike** | past | COCK | children *= child* |  |  |  | with the exception | vn admire-31.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer they=Stimulus |
| 3 | **bear** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Experiencer |
| 4 | **is a** | past |  | Eba |  |  |  | of Eba's born name | tree rules |
| 5 | **name** |  | Eba |  |  |  |  |  | nom name «communication transitive»: 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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