---
title: He went to the head chief, who was an old man, and told him that he… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: He went to the head chief, who was an old man, and told him that he was Abang from Bendega, and that he was going round the country to visit the people. Who acts: Oga, head chief. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed 
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 1, sentence 26

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He went to the head chief, who was an old man, and told him that he was Abang from Bendega, and that he was going round the country to visit the people.

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**Who acts:** Oga, head chief · **What happens:** go, be, tell, visit · **To what, where:** head chief, old man, Oga, Abang, Bendega, country · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Oga, head 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:pg70959:18:26
# text = He went to the head chief, who was an old man, and told him that he was Abang from Bendega, and that he was going round the country to visit the people.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	to	to	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	chief	chief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
8	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	12	nsubj	_	_
9	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	cop	_	_
10	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
15	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
16	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	iobj	_	_
17	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	20	mark	_	_
18	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
19	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	cop	_	_
20	Abang	Abang	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	15	conj	_	_
21	from	from	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	Bendega	Bendega	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	20	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
25	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	28	mark	_	_
26	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
27	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	28	aux	_	_
28	going	go	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	advcl	_	_
29	round	round	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	country	country	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	_
32	to	to	PART	TO	_	33	mark	_	_
33	visit	visit	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	28	advcl	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	33	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **go** | past | Oga |  |  | the head chief and a old man |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to chief=Initial\_Location |
| 2 | **is a** | past | the head chief and a old man | a old man |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past |  |  | Oga |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent he=Recipient |
| 4 | **is a** | past | Oga | Abang |  | Bendega |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **go** | past · progressive | Oga |  |  | the country |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme round country=Initial\_Location |
| 6 | **visit** | to-infinitive | Oga *not said here* | the people |  |  |  |  | vn meet-36.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent people=Co-Agent |

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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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