--- title: When the people heard that the chief had eaten the cat-fish and had… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics description: When the people heard that the chief had eaten the cat-fish and had not died, they thought they would like to try some for themselves, so they all had some of the fish which ’Ndere had cooked. Who acts: people, chief. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xx --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/25/28/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/) / [Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/25/) / 28 # Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 2, sentence 28 When the people heard that the chief had eaten the cat-fish and had not died, they thought they would like to try some for themselves, so they all had some of the fish which ’Ndere had cooked. **Who acts:** people, chief · **What happens:** hear, eat, not die, think, like, try · **To what, where:** cat fish, some, fish · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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 (people, chief), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong. ## The tree {#tree} ```conllu # sent_id = book:pg70959:25:28 # text = When the people heard that the chief had eaten the cat-fish and had not died, they thought they would like to try some for themselves, so they all had some of the fish which ’Ndere had cooked. 1 When when ADV WRB PronType=Int 4 advmod _ _ 2 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 3 det _ _ 3 people people NOUN NNS Number=Plur 4 nsubj _ _ 4 heard hear VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 20 advcl _ _ 5 that that SCONJ IN _ 9 mark _ _ 6 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 7 det _ _ 7 chief chief NOUN NN Number=Sing 9 nsubj _ _ 8 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 9 aux _ _ 9 eaten eat VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 4 ccomp _ _ 10 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 13 det _ _ 11 cat cat NOUN NN Number=Sing 13 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 12 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 11 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 13 fish fish NOUN NN Number=Sing 9 obj _ _ 14 and and CCONJ CC _ 17 cc _ _ 15 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 17 aux _ _ 16 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 17 advmod _ _ 17 died die VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 9 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 18 , , PUNCT , _ 4 punct _ _ 19 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 20 nsubj _ _ 20 thought think VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 21 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 23 nsubj _ _ 22 would would AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 23 aux _ _ 23 like like VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 20 ccomp _ _ 24 to to PART TO _ 25 mark _ _ 25 try try VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 23 xcomp _ _ 26 some some DET DT PronType=Ind 25 obj _ _ 27 for for ADP IN _ 28 case _ _ 28 themselves themselves PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes 25 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 29 , , PUNCT , _ 33 punct _ _ 30 so so ADV RB _ 33 advmod _ _ 31 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 33 nsubj _ _ 32 all all DET DT PronType=Tot 31 det _ _ 33 had have VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 20 conj _ _ 34 some some DET DT PronType=Ind 33 obj _ _ 35 of of ADP IN _ 37 case _ _ 36 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 37 det _ _ 37 fish fish NOUN NN Number=Sing 34 nmod _ _ 38 which which PRON WDT PronType=Rel 42 nsubj:pass _ _ 39 ’ ' PUNCT `` _ 42 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 40 Ndere Ndere PROPN NNP Number=Sing 42 nsubj:pass _ _ 41 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 42 aux _ _ 42 cooked cook VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 37 acl:relcl _ SpaceAfter=No 43 . . PUNCT . _ 20 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **hear** | past | the people | | | | | | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus | | 2 | **eat** | past · perfect | the chief | the cat fish | | | | | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fish=Patient | | 3 | **not** **die** | past · perfect | the chief *not said here* | | | | | | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute | | 4 | **think** *speech: other* | past | people | | | | | | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme | | 5 | **like** | would | people | | | | | | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme | | 6 | **try** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | people *not said here* | some | | | | for people | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Agent some=Theme for themselves=Attribute | | 7 | **have** | past | people | some of the fish | | | | | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent some=Patient | | 8 | **cook** | past · perfect · passive | | the fish | | | | Ndere *nsubj:pass* | vn cooking-45.3 «NP V NP.patient»: subject=Patient | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 27](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/25/27/) - next →: [sentence 29](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/25/29/) - ↑ back to [Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/25/)