---
title: When ’Nyambi arrived he did not go inside the house, but stood a few… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: When ’Nyambi arrived he did not go inside the house, but stood a few paces from the door, as he thought that Oga might try to do him some injury; but the chief said he did not intend to hurt him and that he might safely come inside. Who acts: Nyambi, Oga, chief. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxiii.--why Edidor Killed Her Husband and Her Lover., sentence 118

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When ’Nyambi arrived he did not go inside the house, but stood a few paces from the door, as he thought that Oga might try to do him some injury; but the chief said he did not intend to hurt him and that he might safely come inside.

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**Who acts:** Nyambi, Oga, chief · **What happens:** arrive, not go, stand, think, try, do · **To what, where:** house, few paces, door, NYAMBI, chief · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxiii.--why Edidor Killed Her Husband and Her Lover.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Nyambi, Oga, chief), 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:pg70959:17:118
# text = When ’Nyambi arrived he did not go inside the house, but stood a few paces from the door, as he thought that Oga might try to do him some injury; but the chief said he did not intend to hurt him and that he might safely come inside.
1	When	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	4	mark	_	_
2	’	'	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	Nyambi	Nyambi	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	arrived	arrive	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	38	advcl	_	_
5	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
6	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
7	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	8	advmod	_	_
8	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	ccomp	_	_
9	inside	inside	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
13	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
14	stood	stand	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
15	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
16	few	few	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	paces	pace	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	obj	_	_
18	from	from	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	door	door	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
22	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	24	mark	_	_
23	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
24	thought	think	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	conj	_	_
25	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	28	mark	_	_
26	Oga	Oga	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	28	nsubj	_	_
27	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	28	aux	_	_
28	try	try	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	24	ccomp	_	_
29	to	to	PART	TO	_	30	mark	_	_
30	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	28	xcomp	_	_
31	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	obj	_	_
32	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	33	det	_	_
33	injury	injury	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
35	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	38	cc	_	_
36	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
37	chief	chief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	nsubj	_	_
38	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
39	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	42	nsubj	_	_
40	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	42	aux	_	_
41	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	42	advmod	_	_
42	intend	intend	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	38	ccomp	_	_
43	to	to	PART	TO	_	44	mark	_	_
44	hurt	hurt	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	42	xcomp	_	_
45	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	44	obj	_	_
46	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	51	cc	_	_
47	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	51	mark	_	_
48	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	51	nsubj	_	_
49	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	51	aux	_	_
50	safely	safely	ADV	RB	_	51	advmod	_	_
51	come	come	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	42	conj	_	_
52	inside	inside	ADV	RB	_	51	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	38	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **arrive** | past | Nyambi |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **not** **go** | past · do-support | NYAMBI |  |  | the house |  |  | vn occur-48.3-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme inside house=Location |
| 3 | **stand** | past | Nyambi *not said here* | a few paces |  | the door |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer pace=Stimulus |
| 4 | **think** *speech: other* | past | NYAMBI |  |  |  |  |  | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 5 | **try** | might | Oga |  |  |  |  |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 6 | **do** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | Oga *not said here* | NYAMBI |  |  |  | some injury *obj* | tree rules |
| 7 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the chief |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 8 | **not** **intend** | past · do-support | chief |  |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 9 | **hurt** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | chief *not said here* | chief |  |  |  |  | vn hurt-40.8.3-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer he=Patient |
| 10 | **come** | might | chief |  |  |  |  | inside, safely *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=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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