---
title: The goat at once told her that she must pay, so the hen gave him one… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: The goat at once told her that she must pay, so the hen gave him one of her chickens. Who acts: goat, hen. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxi.--why the Head of the Male Goat Smells So Strong., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every claus
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxi.--why the Head of the Male Goat Smells So Strong., sentence 13

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The goat at once told her that she must pay, so the hen gave him one of her chickens.

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**Who acts:** goat, hen · **What happens:** tell, pay, give · **To what, where:** hen, one, rat · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxi.--why the Head of the Male Goat Smells So Strong.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (goat, hen), 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:pg70959:15:13
# text = The goat at once told her that she must pay, so the hen gave him one of her chickens.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	goat	goat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	at	at	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	5	obl	_	_
5	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	iobj	_	_
7	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
8	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
9	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
10	pay	pay	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
12	so	so	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	hen	hen	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nsubj	_	_
15	gave	give	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
16	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	iobj	_	_
17	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	15	obj	_	_
18	of	of	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	20	nmod:poss	_	_
20	chickens	chicken	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | the goat |  | hen |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent she=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 2 | **pay** *not said to happen* | must | hen |  |  |  |  |  | vn pay-68-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **give** | past | the hen | one of hen's chickens | rat |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent he=Recipient one=Theme |

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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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