---
title: The goat went up to the man and told him that the feather was his, a… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: The goat went up to the man and told him that the feather was his, and asked for payment, so the man took the goat to his house and gave him one yam in satisfaction of his claim. Who acts: goat, feather, man, play. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxi.-
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxi.--why the Head of the Male Goat Smells So Strong., sentence 23

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The goat went up to the man and told him that the feather was his, and asked for payment, so the man took the goat to his house and gave him one yam in satisfaction of his claim.

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**Who acts:** goat, feather, man, play · **What happens:** go up, tell, be, ask, take, give · **To what, where:** play, goat, house, one yam, satisfaction, claim · **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, feather, man, play), 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:pg70959:15:23
# text = The goat went up to the man and told him that the feather was his, and asked for payment, so the man took the goat to his house and gave him one yam in satisfaction of his claim.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	goat	goat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	up	up	ADP	RP	_	3	compound:prt	_	_
5	to	to	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
10	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	iobj	_	_
11	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	feather	feather	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nsubj	_	_
14	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	cop	_	_
15	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
18	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
19	for	for	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
20	payment	payment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
22	so	so	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nsubj	_	_
25	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	goat	goat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obj	_	_
28	to	to	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	30	nmod:poss	_	_
30	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
32	gave	give	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	conj	_	_
33	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	iobj	_	_
34	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	35	nummod	_	_
35	yam	yam	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obj	_	_
36	in	in	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
37	satisfaction	satisfaction	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obl	_	_
38	of	of	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
39	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	40	nmod:poss	_	_
40	claim	claim	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **go up** | past | the goat |  |  |  |  | to the man | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |
| 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | the goat *not said here* |  | play |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent he=Recipient |
| 3 | **is a** | past | the feather | play |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | the goat *not said here* |  |  |  |  | for payment | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **take** | past | the man | the goat |  | play's house |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent goat=Theme to house=Destination |
| 6 | **give** | past | the man *not said here* | one yam | play | satisfaction of play's claim |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent he=Recipient yam=Theme |
| 7 | **satisfy** |  |  | play's claim |  |  |  |  | nom satisfaction «feeling transitive»: of=patient |
| 8 | **claim** |  | play |  |  |  |  |  | nom claim «communication transitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .note -->
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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