---
title: As the bush buck was very fond and proud of his daughter and did not… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: As the bush buck was very fond and proud of his daughter and did not want to part with her, he refused to reduce the dowry, but told the young men and animals that he would give them all another chance of winning his daughter, and that was, if any one could beat him in a race he would hand his daugh
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 4, sentence 17

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As the bush buck was very fond and proud of his daughter and did not want to part with her, he refused to reduce the dowry, but told the young men and animals that he would give them all another chance of winning his daughter, and that was, if any one could beat him in a race he would hand his daughter over to the winner as his wife without any dowry at all.

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**Who acts:** man, chance, that · **What happens:** be, not want, refuse, not reduce, tell, give · **To what, where:** part, dowry, young men, chance, animals, daughter · **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 4. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (man, chance, that), 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:pg70959:21:17
# text = As the bush buck was very fond and proud of his daughter and did not want to part with her, he refused to reduce the dowry, but told the young men and animals that he would give them all another chance of winning his daughter, and that was, if any one could beat him in a race he would hand his daughter over to the winner as his wife without any dowry at all.
1	As	as	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	bush	bush	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	_
4	buck	buck	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
5	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
6	very	very	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	fond	fond	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	proud	proud	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	conj	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	12	nmod:poss	_	_
12	daughter	daughter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
14	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	aux	_	_
15	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	16	advmod	_	_
16	want	want	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	conj	_	_
17	to	to	PART	TO	_	18	mark	_	_
18	part	part	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	xcomp	_	_
19	with	with	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
20	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
22	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
23	refused	refuse	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	parataxis	_	_
24	to	to	PART	TO	_	25	mark	_	_
25	reduce	reduce	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	xcomp	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	dowry	dowry	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
29	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
30	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	conj	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
32	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	33	amod	_	_
33	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	30	obj	_	_
34	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
35	animals	animal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	33	conj	_	_
36	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	39	mark	_	_
37	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	39	nsubj	_	_
38	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	39	aux	_	_
39	give	give	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	30	ccomp	_	_
40	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	39	iobj	_	_
41	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	43	det:predet	_	_
42	another	another	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	43	det	_	_
43	chance	chance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	obj	_	_
44	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	45	mark	_	_
45	winning	win	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	43	acl	_	_
46	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	47	nmod:poss	_	_
47	daughter	daughter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	57	punct	_	_
49	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	57	cc	_	_
50	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	57	nsubj	_	_
51	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	57	cop	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	57	punct	_	_
53	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	57	mark	_	_
54	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	55	det	_	_
55	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	57	nsubj	_	_
56	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	57	aux	_	_
57	beat	beat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	parataxis	_	_
58	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	57	obj	_	_
59	in	in	ADP	IN	_	61	case	_	_
60	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	61	det	_	_
61	race	race	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	64	obl	_	_
62	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	64	nsubj	_	_
63	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	64	aux	_	_
64	hand	hand	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	57	advcl	_	_
65	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	66	nmod:poss	_	_
66	daughter	daughter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	64	obj	_	_
67	over	over	ADV	RB	_	70	advmod	_	_
68	to	to	ADP	IN	_	70	case	_	_
69	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	70	det	_	_
70	winner	winner	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	64	obl	_	_
71	as	as	ADP	IN	_	73	case	_	_
72	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	73	nmod:poss	_	_
73	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	70	nmod	_	_
74	without	without	ADP	IN	_	76	case	_	_
75	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	76	det	_	_
76	dowry	dowry	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	64	obl	_	_
77	at	at	ADP	IN	_	78	case	_	_
78	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	76	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
79	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past |  |  |  |  |  | as the bush buck; fond *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **be** |  |  |  |  |  |  | of man's daughter | tree rules |
| 3 | **not** **want** | past · do-support |  | part |  |  |  | with BUCK | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot |
| 4 | **refuse** | past | man |  |  |  |  |  | vn reject-77.2 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 5 | **not** **reduce** | to-infinitive | man *not said here* | the dowry |  |  |  |  | vn limit-76 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer dowry=Patient |
| 6 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | man *not said here* |  | the young men and animals |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent man=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 7 | **give** | would | man | all chance | animals *= animal* |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent they=Recipient chance=Theme |
| 8 | **win** | gerund | all chance *not said here* | man's daughter |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent daughter=Eventuality |
| 9 | **is** *a condition, not said to happen* | could · past | that |  |  |  |  | any one *nsubj*; man *obj*; beat *property* | tree rules |
| 10 | **hand** | would | man | man's daughter |  | a race |  | to the winner as man's wife; without any dowry at all | vn send-11.1-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent daughter=Theme to winner=Destination |

<!-- .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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