---
title: Aictor was a native of the Ingor country, and could not speak the Ok… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: Aictor was a native of the Ingor country, and could not speak the Okuni language, and, at that time, the Okuni people could not understand Ingor, as they were not on friendly terms with them, so that, when the bird sang in the Ingor language, no one could understand what he said. Who acts: Aictor, O
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 2, sentence 45

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Aictor was a native of the Ingor country, and could not speak the Okuni language, and, at that time, the Okuni people could not understand Ingor, as they were not on friendly terms with them, so that, when the bird sang in the Ingor language, no one could understand what he said.

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**Who acts:** Aictor, Okuni people, people, bird, one · **What happens:** be, not speak, not understand, not be, sing, understand · **To what, where:** native, Okuni language, Ingor, Ingor language · **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 (Aictor, Okuni people, people, bird), 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:pg70959:25:45
# text = Aictor was a native of the Ingor country, and could not speak the Okuni language, and, at that time, the Okuni people could not understand Ingor, as they were not on friendly terms with them, so that, when the bird sang in the Ingor language, no one could understand what he said.
1	Aictor	Aictor	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	native	native	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	Ingor	Ingor	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	_
8	country	country	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
11	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
12	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	13	advmod	_	_
13	speak	speak	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
15	Okuni	Okuni	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	16	compound	_	_
16	language	language	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
20	at	at	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	22	det	_	_
22	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
25	Okuni	Okuni	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	26	compound	_	_
26	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	nsubj	_	_
27	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	29	aux	_	_
28	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	29	advmod	_	_
29	understand	understand	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	conj	_	_
30	Ingor	Ingor	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	29	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
32	as	as	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
33	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	38	nsubj	_	_
34	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	38	cop	_	_
35	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	38	advmod	_	_
36	on	on	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
37	friendly	friendly	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	38	amod	_	_
38	terms	term	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	obl	_	_
39	with	with	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
40	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	38	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	43	punct	_	_
42	so	so	SCONJ	IN	_	43	case	_	_
43	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	38	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	48	punct	_	_
45	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	48	mark	_	_
46	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	47	det	_	_
47	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	nsubj	_	_
48	sang	sing	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	43	conj	_	_
49	in	in	ADP	IN	_	52	case	_	_
50	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	52	det	_	_
51	Ingor	Ingor	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	52	compound	_	_
52	language	language	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	57	punct	_	_
54	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	55	det	_	_
55	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	57	nsubj	_	_
56	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	57	aux	_	_
57	understand	understand	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	48	parataxis	_	_
58	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	60	obj	_	_
59	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	60	nsubj	_	_
60	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	57	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
61	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | Aictor | a native |  |  |  | of the Ingor country | tree rules |
| 2 | **not** **speak** *speech: other* | could |  | the Okuni language |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **not** **understand** | could | the Okuni people | Ingor |  |  | time |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer ingor=Stimulus |
| 4 | **not** **is** | past | people |  |  |  |  | as friendly terms; with terms *= term*; so that | tree rules |
| 5 | **sing** *speech: express* | past | the bird |  |  | the Ingor language |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in language=Location |
| 6 | **understand** | could | no one |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 7 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | bird |  |  |  |  | what *obj* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent what=Topic |

<!-- .note -->
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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