---
title: He then told the elephant that he was to get hold of Agbor Adam, but… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: He then told the elephant that he was to get hold of Agbor Adam, but he did not wish him to be killed, as he only wanted to find out why the bird Aictor had been calling his name and why he had left the hunting party. Who acts: chief, bird. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by 
---

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

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He then told the elephant that he was to get hold of Agbor Adam, but he did not wish him to be killed, as he only wanted to find out why the bird Aictor had been calling his name and why he had left the hunting party.

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**Who acts:** chief, bird · **What happens:** tell, be, not wish, kill, want, find out · **To what, where:** elephant, name, hunting party, Agbor · **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 (chief, bird), 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:pg70959:26:3
# text = He then told the elephant that he was to get hold of Agbor Adam, but he did not wish him to be killed, as he only wanted to find out why the bird Aictor had been calling his name and why he had left the hunting party.
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	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	elephant	elephant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
7	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
8	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	cop	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	ccomp	_	_
11	hold	hold	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	_
12	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	Agbor	Agbor	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	nmod	_	_
14	Adam	Adam	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	13	flat	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
16	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
17	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
18	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	aux	_	_
19	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	20	advmod	_	_
20	wish	wish	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	ccomp	_	_
21	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	iobj	_	_
22	to	to	PART	TO	_	24	mark	_	_
23	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	24	aux:pass	_	_
24	killed	kill	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	20	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
26	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	29	mark	_	_
27	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
28	only	only	ADV	RB	_	29	advmod	_	_
29	wanted	want	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
30	to	to	PART	TO	_	31	mark	_	_
31	find	find	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	29	xcomp	_	_
32	out	out	ADP	RP	_	31	compound:prt	_	_
33	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	39	advmod	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	nsubj	_	_
36	Aictor	Aictor	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	35	appos	_	_
37	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	39	aux	_	_
38	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	39	aux	_	_
39	calling	call	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	31	advcl	_	_
40	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	41	nmod:poss	_	_
41	name	name	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	obj	_	_
42	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	46	cc	_	_
43	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	46	advmod	_	_
44	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	46	nsubj	_	_
45	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	46	aux	_	_
46	left	leave	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	39	conj	_	_
47	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	49	det	_	_
48	hunting	hunting	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	49	compound	_	_
49	party	party	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	46	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | chief |  | the elephant |  | then |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent elephant=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 2 | **is** *not said to happen* | past | chief |  |  |  |  | hold of Agbor *obj*; get *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **not** **wish** | past · do-support | chief |  | elephant |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **kill** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive · passive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle» |
| 5 | **want** | past | chief |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 6 | **find out** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | chief *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V PP.topic»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **call** | past · perfect · progressive | the bird | chief's name |  |  |  |  | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent name=Recipient |
| 8 | **leave** | past · perfect | chief | the hunting party |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent party=Theme |
| 9 | **hold** |  |  | Agbor |  |  |  |  | nom hold «act transitive»: of=patient |
| 10 | **name** |  | chief |  |  |  |  |  | nom name «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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