---
title: So the goat went to the corpse and asked it to give back his mat or… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: So the goat went to the corpse and asked it to give back his mat or else to pay him for it, but he received no reply. Who acts: goat, farmer. 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 tre
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxi.--why the Head of the Male Goat Smells So Strong., sentence 45

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So the goat went to the corpse and asked it to give back his mat or else to pay him for it, but he received no reply.

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**Who acts:** goat, farmer · **What happens:** go, ask, give back, pay, receive · **To what, where:** corpse, mat, farmer, reply

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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, farmer), 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:pg70959:15:45
# text = So the goat went to the corpse and asked it to give back his mat or else to pay him for it, but he received no reply.
1	So	so	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	goat	goat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	corpse	corpse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
10	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	obj	_	_
11	to	to	PART	TO	_	12	mark	_	_
12	give	give	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	xcomp	_	_
13	back	back	ADP	RP	_	12	compound:prt	_	_
14	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	15	nmod:poss	_	_
15	mat	mat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	_
16	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
17	else	else	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	_
18	to	to	PART	TO	_	19	mark	_	_
19	pay	pay	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	conj	_	_
20	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	obj	_	_
21	for	for	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
24	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
25	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
26	received	receive	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
27	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	28	det	_	_
28	reply	reply	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **go** | past | the goat |  |  | the corpse |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to corpse=Initial\_Location |
| 2 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | the goat *not said here* |  | corpse |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S\_INF»: agent=Agent it=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 3 | **give back** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the goat *not said here* | farmer's mat |  |  |  |  | vn give-13.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent mat=Theme |
| 4 | **pay** | to-infinitive | the goat *not said here* | farmer |  |  |  | for mat; else *property* | vn pay-68-1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent he=Asset for it=Theme |
| 5 | **receive** | past | farmer | no reply |  |  |  |  | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reply=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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