---
title: But Ori’s father being obstinate and very headstrong, insisted upon… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: But Ori’s father being obstinate and very headstrong, insisted upon his claim so fiercely that the chief gave in and ordered the slaves to be paid. Who acts: father, chief. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xv.--what Happened At Okuni When Anyone Was Kil
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xv.--what Happened At Okuni When Anyone Was Killed By Accident., sentence 8

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But Ori’s father being obstinate and very headstrong, insisted upon his claim so fiercely that the chief gave in and ordered the slaves to be paid.

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**Who acts:** father, chief · **What happens:** be, insist, give in, order, pay, claim · **To what, where:** slaves

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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 (father, chief), 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:pg70959:12:8
# text = But Ori’s father being obstinate and very headstrong, insisted upon his claim so fiercely that the chief gave in and ordered the slaves to be paid.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
2	Ori	Ori	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	’s	's	PART	POS	_	2	case	_	_
4	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
5	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	6	cop	_	_
6	obstinate	obstinate	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
8	very	very	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
9	headstrong	headstrong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
11	insisted	insist	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	conj	_	_
12	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	14	nmod:poss	_	_
14	claim	claim	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	_
15	so	so	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
16	fiercely	fiercely	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
17	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	20	mark	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	chief	chief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nsubj	_	_
20	gave	give	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	advcl	_	_
21	in	in	ADP	RP	_	20	compound:prt	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
23	ordered	order	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	conj	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	slaves	slave	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	obj	_	_
26	to	to	PART	TO	_	28	mark	_	_
27	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	28	aux:pass	_	_
28	paid	pay	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	23	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | gerund | Ori's father |  |  |  |  | obstinate *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **be** |  | Ori's father *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **insist** *speech: other* | participle | Ori's father *not said here* |  |  |  |  | upon father's claim | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **give in** | past | the chief |  |  |  |  | fiercely *property* | vn acquiesce-95.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **order** | past | the chief *not said here* | the slaves |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent slave=Theme |
| 6 | **pay** | to-infinitive · passive | the chief *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn pay-68-1 «NP V NP» |
| 7 | **claim** |  | father |  |  |  |  |  | nom claim «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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