---
title: The goat told the people that in the country he came from they alway… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: The goat told the people that in the country he came from they always planted the proper yams, and the koko yams were only used in the hungry season when food was scarce. Who acts: goat, people, food. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxi.--why the Head 
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxi.--why the Head of the Male Goat Smells So Strong., sentence 26

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The goat told the people that in the country he came from they always planted the proper yams, and the koko yams were only used in the hungry season when food was scarce.

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**Who acts:** goat, people, food · **What happens:** tell, come, plant, use, be · **To what, where:** people, country, proper yams, koko yams · **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, people, food), 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:pg70959:15:26
# text = The goat told the people that in the country he came from they always planted the proper yams, and the koko yams were only used in the hungry season when food was scarce.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	goat	goat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	iobj	_	_
6	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	11	nsubj	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	country	country	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	_
10	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
11	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	acl:relcl	_	_
12	from	from	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
13	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
14	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	15	advmod	_	_
15	planted	plant	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	advcl	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
17	proper	proper	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	yams	yam	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
22	koko	koko	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	compound	_	_
23	yams	yam	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	26	nsubj:pass	_	_
24	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	aux:pass	_	_
25	only	only	ADV	RB	_	26	advmod	_	_
26	used	use	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	conj	_	_
27	in	in	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
29	hungry	hungry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	30	amod	_	_
30	season	season	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	_
31	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	34	mark	_	_
32	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	nsubj	_	_
33	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	34	cop	_	_
34	scarce	scarce	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | the goat |  | the people |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent people=Recipient |
| 2 | **come** | past | the people |  |  | the country |  | play *nsubj* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in country=Location |
| 3 | **plant** | past | people | the proper yams |  |  |  | always *property* | vn establish-55.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent yam=Patient |
| 4 | **use** | past · passive |  | the koko yams |  |  | season |  | vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 5 | **is** | past | food |  |  |  |  | scarce *property* | tree rules |

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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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