---
title: Then Chief Aboli pointed to the palm-tree on which Aictor was perche… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: Then Chief Aboli pointed to the palm-tree on which Aictor was perched, and told Agbor Adam that he should be hanged there, but, first of all, he should climb up and down the tree six times, and when he got to the top for the seventh time he should place his head in a noose and hang himself. Who acts
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/26/15/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[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/pg70959/26/) / 15

# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 3, sentence 15

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Then Chief Aboli pointed to the palm-tree on which Aictor was perched, and told Agbor Adam that he should be hanged there, but, first of all, he should climb up and down the tree six times, and when he got to the top for the seventh time he should place his head in a noose and hang himself.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Chief, Aictor · **What happens:** point, perch, tell, hange, climb up, get · **To what, where:** palm tree, Aictor, Agbor Adam, head, noose · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
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 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Chief, Aictor), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg70959:26:15
# text = Then Chief Aboli pointed to the palm-tree on which Aictor was perched, and told Agbor Adam that he should be hanged there, but, first of all, he should climb up and down the tree six times, and when he got to the top for the seventh time he should place his head in a noose and hang himself.
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	4	advmod	_	_
2	Chief	Chief	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	Aboli	Aboli	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	flat	_	_
4	pointed	point	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
7	palm	palm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
10	on	on	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	14	obl	_	_
12	Aictor	Aictor	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	_
13	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	aux:pass	_	_
14	perched	perch	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	9	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
17	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
18	Agbor	Agbor	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	19	compound	_	_
19	Adam	Adam	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	17	iobj	_	_
20	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	24	mark	_	_
21	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj:pass	_	_
22	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	24	aux	_	_
23	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	24	aux:pass	_	_
24	hanged	hange	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	17	ccomp	_	_
25	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	24	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
27	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
29	first	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	35	advmod	_	_
30	of	of	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
31	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	29	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
33	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	35	nsubj	_	_
34	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	35	aux	_	_
35	climb	climb	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	conj	_	_
36	up	up	ADV	RB	_	35	advmod	_	_
37	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	40	cc	_	_
38	down	down	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
39	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
40	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	conj	_	_
41	six	six	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	42	nummod	_	_
42	times	time	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	40	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	47	punct	_	_
44	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	47	cc	_	_
45	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	47	advmod	_	_
46	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	47	nsubj	_	_
47	got	get	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
48	to	to	ADP	IN	_	50	case	_	_
49	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	50	det	_	_
50	top	top	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	obl	_	_
51	for	for	ADP	IN	_	54	case	_	_
52	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	54	det	_	_
53	seventh	seventh	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	54	amod	_	_
54	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	57	obl	_	_
55	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	57	nsubj	_	_
56	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	57	aux	_	_
57	place	place	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	obl	_	_
58	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	59	nmod:poss	_	_
59	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	obj	_	_
60	in	in	ADP	IN	_	62	case	_	_
61	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	62	det	_	_
62	noose	noose	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	obl	_	_
63	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	64	cc	_	_
64	hang	hang	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	47	conj	_	_
65	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	64	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
66	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **point** | past | Chief |  | the palm tree |  | then |  | vn wink-40.3.1 «NP V PP.recipient»: agent=Agent to tree=Recipient |
| 2 | **perch** | past · passive |  | Aictor |  | the palm tree |  |  | vn put\_spatial-9.2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme on which=Destination |
| 3 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | Chief *not said here* |  | Agbor Adam |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent adam=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 4 | **hange** | should · passive |  | Aictor |  | there |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **climb up** | should | Aictor |  |  |  |  | first *property* | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **get** | past | Aictor | Aictor's head |  | a noose |  | to the top | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer head=Stimulus |
| 7 | **place** | should | Aictor |  |  |  | time |  | tree rules |
| 8 | **hang** | infinitive | Aictor *not said here* | Aictor |  |  |  |  | vn poison-42.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent himself=Patient |

<!-- .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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/26/14/)
- next →: [sentence 16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/26/16/)
- ↑ back to [Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/26/)