---
title: The goat then asked the people why they grew koko yams, which were p… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: The goat then asked the people why they grew koko yams, which were poor things to eat, and showed them the big yam he had received from the fighting man from Inde. Who acts: goat, people, koko yams, play. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxi.--why the H
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxi.--why the Head of the Male Goat Smells So Strong., sentence 25

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The goat then asked the people why they grew koko yams, which were poor things to eat, and showed them the big yam he had received from the fighting man from Inde.

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**Who acts:** goat, people, koko yams, play · **What happens:** ask, grow, be, eat, show, receive · **To what, where:** people, koko yams, poor things, big yam

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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, people, koko yams, 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:pg70959:15:25
# text = The goat then asked the people why they grew koko yams, which were poor things to eat, and showed them the big yam he had received from the fighting man from Inde.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	goat	goat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	4	advmod	_	_
4	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	iobj	_	_
7	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	9	advmod	_	_
8	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
9	grew	grow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	advcl	_	_
10	koko	koko	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	compound	_	_
11	yams	yam	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
13	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	16	nsubj	_	_
14	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	cop	_	_
15	poor	poor	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	things	thing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	conj	_	_
17	to	to	PART	TO	_	18	mark	_	_
18	eat	eat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
21	showed	show	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
22	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	obj	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
24	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	amod	_	_
25	yam	yam	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obj	_	_
26	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
27	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	28	aux	_	_
28	received	receive	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	25	acl:relcl	_	_
29	from	from	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
31	fighting	fighting	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	compound	_	_
32	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	_
33	from	from	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
34	Inde	Inde	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	32	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | the goat |  | the people |  | then |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent people=Recipient |
| 2 | **grow** | past | people | koko yams and poor things |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location yam=Theme |
| 3 | **is a** | past | koko yams and poor things | poor things |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **eat** | to-infinitive | people *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **show** | past | the goat *not said here* | people |  |  |  | the big yam *obj* | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent they=Recipient yam=Topic |
| 6 | **receive** | past · perfect | play | the big yam *not said here* |  |  |  | from the fighting man from Inde | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent yam=Theme from man=Source |

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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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