---
title: When the gun was fired off and Obim was declared to be ’Nyambi’s wif… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: When the gun was fired off and Obim was declared to be ’Nyambi’s wife, Chief Oga was very vexed, and, although he wanted to speak to Obim, he dared not do so openly, as he thought the people might laugh at him if they saw him going after a woman who had only just been married, seeing that he had so 
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxiii.--why Edidor Killed Her Husband and Her Lover., sentence 76

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When the gun was fired off and Obim was declared to be ’Nyambi’s wife, Chief Oga was very vexed, and, although he wanted to speak to Obim, he dared not do so openly, as he thought the people might laugh at him if they saw him going after a woman who had only just been married, seeing that he had so many wives already himself.

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**Who acts:** NYAMBI, people · **What happens:** fire off, declare, be, want, speak, do · **To what, where:** gun, Obim, wife, NYAMBI, woman, many wives · **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, people), 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:pg70959:17:76
# text = When the gun was fired off and Obim was declared to be ’Nyambi’s wife, Chief Oga was very vexed, and, although he wanted to speak to Obim, he dared not do so openly, as he thought the people might laugh at him if they saw him going after a woman who had only just been married, seeing that he had so many wives already himself.
1	When	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	5	mark	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	gun	gun	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux:pass	_	_
5	fired	fire	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	off	off	ADP	RP	_	5	compound:prt	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
8	Obim	Obim	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
9	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	aux:pass	_	_
10	declared	declare	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	conj	_	_
11	to	to	PART	TO	_	22	mark	_	_
12	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	cop	_	_
13	’	'	PUNCT	``	_	16	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	Nyambi	Nyambi	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	16	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	’s	's	PART	POS	_	14	case	_	_
16	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
18	Chief	Chief	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	16	appos	_	_
19	Oga	Oga	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	18	flat	_	_
20	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	aux:pass	_	_
21	very	very	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	_
22	vexed	vex	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	10	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
26	although	although	SCONJ	IN	_	28	mark	_	_
27	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
28	wanted	want	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
29	to	to	PART	TO	_	30	mark	_	_
30	speak	speak	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	28	xcomp	_	_
31	to	to	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
32	Obim	Obim	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	30	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
34	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	37	nsubj	_	_
35	dared	dare	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	37	aux	_	_
36	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	35	advmod	_	_
37	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	28	parataxis	_	_
38	so	so	ADV	RB	_	39	advmod	_	_
39	openly	openly	ADV	RB	_	37	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	43	punct	_	_
41	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	43	mark	_	_
42	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	43	nsubj	_	_
43	thought	think	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	37	conj	_	_
44	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	45	det	_	_
45	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	47	nsubj	_	_
46	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	47	aux	_	_
47	laugh	laugh	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	43	ccomp	_	_
48	at	at	ADP	IN	_	49	case	_	_
49	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	47	obl	_	_
50	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	52	mark	_	_
51	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	52	nsubj	_	_
52	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	47	advcl	_	_
53	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	52	obj	_	_
54	going	go	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	52	xcomp	_	_
55	after	after	ADP	IN	_	57	case	_	_
56	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	57	det	_	_
57	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	54	obl	_	_
58	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	63	nsubj:pass	_	_
59	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	63	aux	_	_
60	only	only	ADV	RB	_	63	advmod	_	_
61	just	just	ADV	RB	_	63	advmod	_	_
62	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	63	aux:pass	_	_
63	married	marry	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	57	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
64	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	65	punct	_	_
65	seeing	see	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	54	conj	_	_
66	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	68	mark	_	_
67	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	68	nsubj	_	_
68	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	65	ccomp	_	_
69	so	so	ADV	RB	_	70	advmod	_	_
70	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	71	amod	_	_
71	wives	wife	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	68	obj	_	_
72	already	already	ADV	RB	_	73	advmod	_	_
73	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	68	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
74	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fire off** | past · passive |  | the gun |  |  |  |  | vn throw-17.1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 2 | **declare** *speech: other* | past · passive |  | Obim |  |  |  |  | vn declare-29.4-1-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Attribute |
| 3 | **is** | to-infinitive · passive |  | Nyambi's wife |  |  |  | vex *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **want** | past | NYAMBI |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 5 | **speak** *speech: other* *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | NYAMBI *not said here* |  | Obim |  |  |  | vn talk-37.5 «NP V PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent to obim=Co-Agent |
| 6 | **do** | past | NYAMBI |  |  |  |  | openly *property* | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **think** *speech: other* | past | NYAMBI |  |  |  |  |  | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 8 | **laugh** | might | the people |  |  |  |  | at NYAMBI | vn nonverbal\_expression-40.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 9 | **see** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | people | NYAMBI |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 10 | **go** | gerund | NYAMBI *not said here* |  |  |  | after a woman |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 11 | **marry** | past · perfect · passive |  | a woman |  |  |  |  | vn amalgamate-22.2-3-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 12 | **see** | gerund | NYAMBI *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 13 | **have** | past | NYAMBI | many wives |  |  |  | NYAMBI *obl* | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wife=Patient |

<!-- .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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