--- title: When Agbor’s wife heard this, she ran and threw herself at the chief… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics description: When Agbor’s wife heard this, she ran and threw herself at the chief’s feet, and, beating her breasts and tearing her hair, she implored him to spare her husband, but the chief walked away from her. Who acts: wife, chief. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/26/16/) [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/) / 16 # Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 3, sentence 16 When Agbor’s wife heard this, she ran and threw herself at the chief’s feet, and, beating her breasts and tearing her hair, she implored him to spare her husband, but the chief walked away from her. **Who acts:** wife, chief · **What happens:** hear, run, throw, beat, tear, implore · **To what, where:** this, wife, feet, breasts, hair, chief 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 (wife, 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:pg70959:26:16 # text = When Agbor’s wife heard this, she ran and threw herself at the chief’s feet, and, beating her breasts and tearing her hair, she implored him to spare her husband, but the chief walked away from her. 1 When when ADV WRB PronType=Int 5 advmod _ _ 2 Agbor Agbor PROPN NNP Number=Sing 4 nmod:poss _ SpaceAfter=No 3 ’s 's PART POS _ 2 case _ _ 4 wife wife NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 nsubj _ _ 5 heard hear VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 9 advcl _ _ 6 this this PRON DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 5 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 7 , , PUNCT , _ 5 punct _ _ 8 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 9 nsubj _ _ 9 ran run VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 10 and and CCONJ CC _ 11 cc _ _ 11 threw throw VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 9 conj _ _ 12 herself herself PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes 11 obj _ _ 13 at at ADP IN _ 17 case _ _ 14 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 15 det _ _ 15 chief chief NOUN NN Number=Sing 17 nmod:poss _ SpaceAfter=No 16 ’s 's PART POS _ 15 case _ _ 17 feet foot NOUN NNS Number=Plur 11 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 18 , , PUNCT , _ 21 punct _ _ 19 and and CCONJ CC _ 21 cc _ SpaceAfter=No 20 , , PUNCT , _ 21 punct _ _ 21 beating beat VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 9 advcl _ _ 22 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 23 nmod:poss _ _ 23 breasts breast NOUN NNS Number=Plur 21 obj _ _ 24 and and CCONJ CC _ 25 cc _ _ 25 tearing tear VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 21 conj _ _ 26 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 27 nmod:poss _ _ 27 hair hair NOUN NN Number=Sing 25 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 28 , , PUNCT , _ 30 punct _ _ 29 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 30 nsubj _ _ 30 implored implore VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 9 conj _ _ 31 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 30 obj _ _ 32 to to PART TO _ 33 mark _ _ 33 spare spare VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 30 xcomp _ _ 34 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 35 nmod:poss _ _ 35 husband husband NOUN NN Number=Sing 33 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 36 , , PUNCT , _ 40 punct _ _ 37 but but CCONJ CC _ 40 cc _ _ 38 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 39 det _ _ 39 chief chief NOUN NN Number=Sing 40 nsubj _ _ 40 walked walk VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 9 conj _ _ 41 away away ADV RB _ 40 advmod _ _ 42 from from ADP IN _ 43 case _ _ 43 her she PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 40 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 44 . . PUNCT . _ 9 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **hear** | past | Agbor's wife | this | | | | | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer this=Stimulus | | 2 | **run** | past | wife | | | | | | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 3 | **throw** | past | wife *not said here* | wife | | the chief's feet | | | vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent herself=Theme at foot=Destination | | 4 | **beat** | gerund | wife *not said here* | wife's breasts | | | | | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location breast=Theme | | 5 | **tear** | gerund | wife *not said here* | wife's hair | | | | | vn run-51.3.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Initial\_Location hair=Theme | | 6 | **implore** | past | wife | chief | | | | | vn urge-58.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent he=Recipient clause=Topic | | 7 | **spare** | to-infinitive | wife *not said here* | wife's husband | | | | | vn bill-54.5 «NP V NP NP.asset»: agent=Agent husband=Asset | | 8 | **walk away** | past | the chief | | | | | from wife; away *property* | vn resign-10.11-1 «NP V PP.source»: agent=Agent from she=Source | 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 15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/26/15/) - next →: [sentence 17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/26/17/) - ↑ 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/)