---
title: He then went to chief Alobi and said, “If a man kills another man he… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: He then went to chief Alobi and said, “If a man kills another man he should be hanged, but if he breaks the hunter’s law he disobeys a chief’s order; he should be fined and not killed, and I think 260 rods would be a proper fine.” Who acts: Agbor, man, 260 rods, chief. A sentence of «Ikom folk stori
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 3, sentence 19

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He then went to chief Alobi and said, “If a man kills another man he should be hanged, but if he breaks the hunter’s law he disobeys a chief’s order; he should be fined and not killed, and I think 260 rods would be a proper fine.”

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**Who acts:** Agbor, man, 260 rods, chief · **What happens:** go, say, kill, hange, break, disobey · **To what, where:** chief Alobi, man, Agbor, law, order, proper fine · **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 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Agbor, man, 260 rods, chief), 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:pg70959:26:19
# text = He then went to chief Alobi and said, “If a man kills another man he should be hanged, but if he breaks the hunter’s law he disobeys a chief’s order; he should be fined and not killed, and I think 260 rods would be a proper fine.”
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	3	advmod	_	_
3	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	chief	chief	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	Alobi	Alobi	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
10	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	14	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	_
14	kills	kill	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	ccomp	_	_
15	another	another	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	16	det	_	_
16	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	_
17	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj:pass	_	_
18	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	20	aux	_	_
19	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	aux:pass	_	_
20	hanged	hange	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	16	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
22	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
23	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	25	mark	_	_
24	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
25	breaks	break	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	31	advcl	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	hunter	hunter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	’s	's	PART	POS	_	27	case	_	_
29	law	law	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obj	_	_
30	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
31	disobeys	disobey	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	14	conj	_	_
32	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	chief	chief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	’s	's	PART	POS	_	33	case	_	_
35	order	order	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	40	punct	_	_
37	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	40	nsubj:pass	_	_
38	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	40	aux	_	_
39	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	40	aux:pass	_	_
40	fined	fine	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	conj	_	_
41	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	43	cc	_	_
42	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	43	advmod	_	_
43	killed	kill	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	40	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	47	punct	_	_
45	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	47	cc	_	_
46	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	47	nsubj	_	_
47	think	think	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
48	260	260	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	49	nummod	_	_
49	rods	rod	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	54	nsubj	_	_
50	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	54	aux	_	_
51	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	54	cop	_	_
52	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	54	det	_	_
53	proper	proper	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	54	amod	_	_
54	fine	fine	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
55	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
56	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **go** | past | Agbor |  | chief Alobi |  | then |  | vn say-37.7 «NP V S-Quote»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Agbor *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **kill** *a condition, not said to happen, in a quote* | present | a man | another man |  |  |  |  | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent man=Theme |
| 4 | **hange** *in a quote* | should · passive | another man *not said here* | Agbor |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **break** *a condition, not said to happen, in a quote* | present | Agbor | the hunter's law |  |  |  |  | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer law=Patient |
| 6 | **disobey** *in a quote* | present | Agbor | a chief's order |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **fine** *in a quote* | should · passive |  | Agbor |  |  |  |  | vn bill-54.5-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: subject=Recipient |
| 8 | **not** **kill** *in a quote* | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer |
| 9 | **think** *speech: other* *in a quote* | present | Agbor |  |  |  |  |  | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 10 | **is a** *in a quote* | would | 260 rods | a proper fine |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 11 | **order** *in a quote* |  | a chief |  |  |  |  |  | nom order «communication transitive»: poss=agent |

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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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