---
title: Aictor then perched himself on the chief’s shoulder, and called out… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: Aictor then perched himself on the chief’s shoulder, and called out in the Ingor language, “Agbor Adam, Agbor Adam, you have broken the law made by Chief Akum Alobi between hunting-men and fishing-women, and you know that whoever breaks this law will be killed.” Who acts: Aictor, you, whoever. A sen
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 2, sentence 47

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Aictor then perched himself on the chief’s shoulder, and called out in the Ingor language, “Agbor Adam, Agbor Adam, you have broken the law made by Chief Akum Alobi between hunting-men and fishing-women, and you know that whoever breaks this law will be killed.”

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**Who acts:** Aictor, you, whoever · **What happens:** perch, call out, break, make, know, kill · **To what, where:** Aictor, shoulder, Ingor language, law · **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, you, whoever), 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:pg70959:25:47
# text = Aictor then perched himself on the chief’s shoulder, and called out in the Ingor language, “Agbor Adam, Agbor Adam, you have broken the law made by Chief Akum Alobi between hunting-men and fishing-women, and you know that whoever breaks this law will be killed.”
1	Aictor	Aictor	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
2	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	3	advmod	_	_
3	perched	perch	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	3	obj	_	_
5	on	on	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	chief	chief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	’s	's	PART	POS	_	7	case	_	_
9	shoulder	shoulder	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
12	called	call	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	conj	_	_
13	out	out	ADP	RP	_	12	compound:prt	_	_
14	in	in	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
16	Ingor	Ingor	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	17	compound	_	_
17	language	language	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
19	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	20	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	Agbor	Agbor	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	17	appos	_	_
21	Adam	Adam	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	20	flat	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
23	Agbor	Agbor	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	20	flat	_	_
24	Adam	Adam	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	20	flat	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
26	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
27	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	28	aux	_	_
28	broken	break	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	3	parataxis	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	law	law	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obj	_	_
31	made	make	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	30	acl	_	_
32	by	by	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
33	Chief	Chief	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	31	obl:agent	_	_
34	Akum	Akum	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	33	flat	_	_
35	Alobi	Alobi	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	34	flat	_	_
36	between	between	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
37	hunting	hunting	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	37	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	31	obl	_	_
40	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	43	cc	_	_
41	fishing	fishing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	41	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	women	woman	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	39	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	47	punct	_	_
45	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	47	cc	_	_
46	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	47	nsubj	_	_
47	know	know	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
48	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	50	mark	_	_
49	whoever	whoever	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	50	nsubj	_	_
50	breaks	break	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	47	advcl	_	_
51	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	52	det	_	_
52	law	law	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	55	nsubj:pass	_	_
53	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	55	aux	_	_
54	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	55	aux:pass	_	_
55	killed	kill	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	50	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
56	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
57	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **perch** | past | Aictor | Aictor |  | the chief's shoulder | then |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **call out** *speech: assert* | participle | Aictor *not said here* |  |  | the Ingor language |  |  | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **break** *in a quote* | present · perfect | you | the law |  |  |  |  | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer law=Patient |
| 4 | **make** *in a quote* | participle |  | the law *not said here* |  |  |  | between hunting men and fishing women; Chief *obl:agent* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset |
| 5 | **know** *in a quote* | present | you |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 6 | **break** *in a quote* | present | whoever |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **kill** *in a quote* | future · passive |  | this law |  |  |  |  | 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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