---
title: The woman refused to do so, saying that the hunting law was so stron… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: The woman refused to do so, saying that the hunting law was so strong that, if they broke it, they would certainly be killed. Who acts: woman, hunting law, women. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Pytho
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 2, sentence 39

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The woman refused to do so, saying that the hunting law was so strong that, if they broke it, they would certainly be killed.

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**Who acts:** woman, hunting law, women · **What happens:** refuse, not do, say, be, break, kill · **To what, where:** LAW, women · **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 (woman, hunting law, women), 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:pg70959:25:39
# text = The woman refused to do so, saying that the hunting law was so strong that, if they broke it, they would certainly be killed.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	refused	refuse	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
6	so	so	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
8	saying	say	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	5	advcl	_	_
9	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	hunting	hunting	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	compound	_	_
12	law	law	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nsubj	_	_
13	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	cop	_	_
14	so	so	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
15	strong	strong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	ccomp	_	_
16	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	27	mark	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
18	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	20	mark	_	_
19	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
20	broke	break	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	advcl	_	_
21	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
23	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj:pass	_	_
24	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	27	aux	_	_
25	certainly	certainly	ADV	RB	_	27	advmod	_	_
26	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	27	aux:pass	_	_
27	killed	kill	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	15	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **refuse** | past | the woman |  |  |  |  |  | vn reject-77.2 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 2 | **not** **do** | to-infinitive | the woman *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | gerund | the woman *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **is** | past | the hunting law |  |  |  |  | strong *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **break** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | women *= woman* | LAW |  |  |  |  | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer it=Patient |
| 6 | **kill** | would · passive |  | women *= woman* |  |  |  | certainly *property* | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: subject=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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