---
title: When he arrived at Okuni he looked nicer than any of the other Okuni… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: When he arrived at Okuni he looked nicer than any of the other Okuni young men; his long neck and small eyes, white teeth and the fine colour of his body appealed to ’Ndere when she saw him, and she at once took a great fancy to him. Who acts: Chief, long neck, Ndere. A sentence of «Ikom folk storie
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 1, sentence 19

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When he arrived at Okuni he looked nicer than any of the other Okuni young men; his long neck and small eyes, white teeth and the fine colour of his body appealed to ’Ndere when she saw him, and she at once took a great fancy to him.

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**Who acts:** Chief, long neck, Ndere · **What happens:** arrive, look, appeal, ', see, take · **To what, where:** Okuni, Ndere, Chief, great fancy

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This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., 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 (Chief, long neck, Ndere), 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:pg70959:24:19
# text = When he arrived at Okuni he looked nicer than any of the other Okuni young men; his long neck and small eyes, white teeth and the fine colour of his body appealed to ’Ndere when she saw him, and she at once took a great fancy to him.
1	When	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	3	advmod	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	arrived	arrive	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	advcl	_	_
4	at	at	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	Okuni	Okuni	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
6	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
7	looked	look	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	nicer	nice	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	7	xcomp	_	_
9	than	than	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	8	obl	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
13	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
14	Okuni	Okuni	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	16	compound	_	_
15	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
18	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	20	nmod:poss	_	_
19	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
20	neck	neck	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	nsubj	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
22	small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
23	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
25	white	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	amod	_	_
26	teeth	tooth	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	conj	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
29	fine	fine	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	30	amod	_	_
30	colour	colour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	conj	_	_
31	of	of	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	33	nmod:poss	_	_
33	body	body	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	nmod	_	_
34	appealed	appeal	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
35	to	to	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
36	’	'	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	34	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	Ndere	Ndere	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	36	obj	_	_
38	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	40	advmod	_	_
39	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	40	nsubj	_	_
40	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	36	advcl	_	_
41	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	40	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	47	punct	_	_
43	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	47	cc	_	_
44	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	47	nsubj	_	_
45	at	at	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
46	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	47	obl	_	_
47	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	34	conj	_	_
48	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	50	det	_	_
49	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	50	amod	_	_
50	fancy	fancy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	obj	_	_
51	to	to	ADP	IN	_	52	case	_	_
52	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	47	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **arrive** | past | Chief |  |  | Okuni |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **look** | past | Chief |  |  |  |  | nice *property* | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Stimulus |
| 3 | **appeal** | past | Chief's long neck and small eyes and white teeth and the fine colour of Chief's body |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **'** | infinitive | Chief's long neck and small eyes and white teeth and the fine colour of Chief's body *not said here* | Ndere |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **see** | past | Ndere | Chief |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer he=Stimulus |
| 6 | **take** | past | Ndere | a great fancy | Chief |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent fancy=Theme to he=Destination |

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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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