---
title: Then ’Ndere said, “Yes, my parents also will not eat this fish, but… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: Then ’Ndere said, “Yes, my parents also will not eat this fish, but there is always one man who starts back first from the farm, and then the other people follow. Who acts: Ndere, parents, one man, other people. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxxi.--c
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 2, sentence 18

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Then ’Ndere said, “Yes, my parents also will not eat this fish, but there is always one man who starts back first from the farm, and then the other people follow.

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**Who acts:** Ndere, parents, one man, other people · **What happens:** say, not eat, be, start back, follow · **To what, where:** fish, farm · **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 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Ndere, parents, one man, other 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:pg70959:25:18
# text = Then ’Ndere said, “Yes, my parents also will not eat this fish, but there is always one man who starts back first from the farm, and then the other people follow.
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	4	advmod	_	_
2	’	'	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	Ndere	Ndere	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
6	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	14	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	Yes	yes	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Pos	14	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
9	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	10	nmod:poss	_	_
10	parents	parent	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	nsubj	_	_
11	also	also	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
12	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
13	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	14	advmod	_	_
14	eat	eat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	ccomp	_	_
15	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	16	det	_	_
16	fish	fish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
18	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
19	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	20	expl	_	_
20	is	be	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	37	parataxis	_	_
21	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	20	advmod	_	_
22	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	23	nummod	_	_
23	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nsubj	_	_
24	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	25	nsubj	_	_
25	starts	start	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	23	acl:relcl	_	_
26	back	back	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	_
27	first	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	25	advmod	_	_
28	from	from	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	farm	farm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
32	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	37	cc	_	_
33	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	37	advmod	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
35	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	36	amod	_	_
36	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	37	nsubj	_	_
37	follow	follow	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Ndere |  |  |  | then |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **not** **eat** *in a quote* | future | my parents | this fish |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fish=Patient |
| 3 | **be** *in a quote* | present | one man |  |  | there |  | always *property* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **start back** *in a quote* | present | one man |  |  | the farm |  | first *property* | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |
| 5 | **follow** *in a quote* | present | the other people |  |  |  | then |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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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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