---
title: Chief Kekong had a wife named Nyam, who was a fine woman, and they h… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: Chief Kekong had a wife named Nyam, who was a fine woman, and they had a daughter called ’Ndere, who was much sought after by the Okuni chiefs and other rich men in marriage, partly on account of her beauty, and partly for her father’s wealth. ’ Who acts: Chief, Nyam, people. A sentence of «Ikom fol
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 1, sentence 3

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Chief Kekong had a wife named Nyam, who was a fine woman, and they had a daughter called ’Ndere, who was much sought after by the Okuni chiefs and other rich men in marriage, partly on account of her beauty, and partly for her father’s wealth. ’

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**Who acts:** Chief, Nyam, people · **What happens:** have, name, be, call, seek, account · **To what, where:** wife, fine woman, daughter, Ndere, beauty · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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, Nyam, 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:pg70959:24:3
# text = Chief Kekong had a wife named Nyam, who was a fine woman, and they had a daughter called ’Ndere, who was much sought after by the Okuni chiefs and other rich men in marriage, partly on account of her beauty, and partly for her father’s wealth. ’
1	Chief	Chief	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
2	Kekong	Kekong	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	1	flat	_	_
3	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	named	name	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	acl	_	_
7	Nyam	Nyam	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
9	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	13	nsubj	_	_
10	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	cop	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
12	fine	fine	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
16	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
17	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
18	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	daughter	daughter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	_
20	called	call	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	19	acl	_	_
21	’	'	PUNCT	``	_	22	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	Ndere	Ndere	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	20	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
24	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	27	nsubj	_	_
25	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	aux:pass	_	_
26	much	much	ADV	RB	_	27	advmod	_	_
27	sought	seek	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	22	acl:relcl	_	_
28	after	after	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
29	by	by	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
31	Okuni	Okuni	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	32	compound	_	_
32	chiefs	chief	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	27	obl	_	_
33	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
34	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	36	amod	_	_
35	rich	rich	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	36	amod	_	_
36	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	32	conj	_	_
37	in	in	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
38	marriage	marriage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	42	punct	_	_
40	partly	partly	ADV	RB	_	42	advmod	_	_
41	on	on	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
42	account	account	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	conj	_	_
43	of	of	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
44	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	45	nmod:poss	_	_
45	beauty	beauty	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	53	punct	_	_
47	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	53	cc	_	_
48	partly	partly	ADV	RB	_	53	advmod	_	_
49	for	for	ADP	IN	_	53	case	_	_
50	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	51	nmod:poss	_	_
51	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	53	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	’s	's	PART	POS	_	51	case	_	_
53	wealth	wealth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
54	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
55	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past | Chief | a wife |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wife=Patient |
| 2 | **name** | participle |  | a wife *not said here* |  |  |  | Nyam *xcomp* | vn appoint-29.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **is a** | past | Nyam | a fine woman |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **have** | past | people | a daughter |  |  |  | for Ndere's father's wealth | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent daughter=Patient |
| 5 | **call** | participle |  | a daughter *not said here* |  |  |  | Ndere *xcomp* | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **seek** | past · passive |  | Ndere |  |  | after the Okuni chiefs and other rich men in marriage and account of Ndere's beauty |  | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 7 | **account** |  |  | Ndere's beauty |  |  |  |  | nom account «communication transitive»: of=patient |

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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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