---
title: The chief was very fond of both his children, and when Essama grew u… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: The chief was very fond of both his children, and when Essama grew up he bought a male goat and had it cut to make it grow bigger, so that when his daughter was circumcised and kept in the fatting-house he would be able to give her the goat to eat. Who acts: chief, Essama, plenty. A sentence of «Iko
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 3, sentence 27

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The chief was very fond of both his children, and when Essama grew up he bought a male goat and had it cut to make it grow bigger, so that when his daughter was circumcised and kept in the fatting-house he would be able to give her the goat to eat.

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**Who acts:** chief, Essama, plenty · **What happens:** be, grow up, buy, have, cut, make · **To what, where:** male goat, plenty, daughter, fatting house, goat

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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 (chief, Essama, plenty), 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:pg70959:26:27
# text = The chief was very fond of both his children, and when Essama grew up he bought a male goat and had it cut to make it grow bigger, so that when his daughter was circumcised and kept in the fatting-house he would be able to give her the goat to eat.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	chief	chief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	very	very	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	fond	fond	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	both	both	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc:preconj	_	_
8	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
12	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	14	advmod	_	_
13	Essama	Essama	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	_
14	grew	grow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	advcl	_	_
15	up	up	ADP	RP	_	14	compound:prt	_	_
16	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
17	bought	buy	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
18	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
19	male	male	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
20	goat	goat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
22	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	conj	_	_
23	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	obj	_	_
24	cut	cut	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	22	xcomp	_	_
25	to	to	PART	TO	_	26	mark	_	_
26	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	24	advcl	_	_
27	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	obj	_	_
28	grow	grow	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	26	xcomp	_	_
29	bigger	big	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	28	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
31	so	so	SCONJ	IN	ExtPos=SCONJ	37	mark	_	_
32	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	31	fixed	_	_
33	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	37	advmod	_	_
34	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	35	nmod:poss	_	_
35	daughter	daughter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	nsubj	_	_
36	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	37	aux:pass	_	_
37	circumcised	circumcise	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	17	parataxis	_	_
38	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	39	cc	_	_
39	kept	keep	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	37	conj	_	_
40	in	in	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
41	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	44	det	_	_
42	fatting	fatting	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	44	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	42	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	obl	_	_
45	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	48	nsubj	_	_
46	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	48	aux	_	_
47	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	48	cop	_	_
48	able	able	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	44	acl:relcl	_	_
49	to	to	PART	TO	_	50	mark	_	_
50	give	give	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	48	xcomp	_	_
51	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	50	iobj	_	_
52	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	53	det	_	_
53	goat	goat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	50	obj	_	_
54	to	to	PART	TO	_	55	mark	_	_
55	eat	eat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	53	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
56	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the chief |  |  |  |  | of chief's children; fond *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **grow up** | past | Essama |  |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **buy** | past | chief | a male goat |  |  |  |  | vn accept-77.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent goat=Theme |
| 4 | **have** | past | chief *not said here* | plenty |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **cut** | participle | plenty *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer |
| 6 | **make** | to-infinitive | plenty *not said here* | plenty |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **grow** | infinitive | plenty *not said here* |  |  |  |  | big *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 8 | **circumcise** | past · passive |  | chief's daughter |  |  |  |  | vn remedy-45.7 «NP V NP.patient»: subject=Patient |
| 9 | **keep** | participle |  |  |  | the fatting house |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent in house=Location |
| 10 | **is** | would | chief | the fatting house *not said here* |  |  |  | able *property* | tree rules |
| 11 | **give** | to-infinitive | chief *not said here* | the goat | daughter |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent she=Recipient goat=Theme |
| 12 | **eat** | to-infinitive | chief *not said here* | the goat *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V»: agent=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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