---
title: The goat allowed the little chicken to run about, and went out himse… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: The goat allowed the little chicken to run about, and went out himself to get some food. Who acts: goat, little chicken. 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 
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxi.--why the Head of the Male Goat Smells So Strong., sentence 14

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The goat allowed the little chicken to run about, and went out himself to get some food.

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**Who acts:** goat, little chicken · **What happens:** allow, run about, go out, get · **To what, where:** little chicken, rat, food

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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, little chicken), 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:pg70959:15:14
# text = The goat allowed the little chicken to run about, and went out himself to get some food.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	goat	goat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	allowed	allow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	chicken	chicken	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	run	run	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
9	about	about	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
12	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
13	out	out	ADP	RP	_	12	compound:prt	_	_
14	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	12	obl	_	_
15	to	to	PART	TO	_	16	mark	_	_
16	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	advcl	_	_
17	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	18	det	_	_
18	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **allow** | past | the goat | the little chicken |  |  |  |  | vn allow-64.1-1 «NP V NP S»: agent=Causer chicken=Beneficiary clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **run about** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the little chicken *not said here* |  |  |  |  | about *property* | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **go out** | past | the goat *not said here* | rat |  |  |  |  | vn interact-36.6 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **get** | to-infinitive | the goat *not said here* | some food |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer food=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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