---
title: When he heard that the goat could not be found, the chief made a gre… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: When he heard that the goat could not be found, the chief made a great palaver with Ode, who began to cry. Who acts: BROTHER, chief, great palaver. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 3, wit
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 3, sentence 43

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When he heard that the goat could not be found, the chief made a great palaver with Ode, who began to cry.

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**Who acts:** BROTHER, chief, great palaver · **What happens:** hear, not find, make, begin, cry · **To what, where:** goat · **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 (BROTHER, chief, great palaver), 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:pg70959:26:43
# text = When he heard that the goat could not be found, the chief made a great palaver with Ode, who began to cry.
1	When	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	3	advmod	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	heard	hear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	advcl	_	_
4	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	goat	goat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj:pass	_	_
7	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
8	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	10	advmod	_	_
9	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	aux:pass	_	_
10	found	find	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	chief	chief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	_
14	made	make	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
15	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
16	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	palaver	palaver	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nsubj	_	_
18	with	with	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	Ode	Ode	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	17	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
21	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	22	nsubj	_	_
22	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	conj	_	_
23	to	to	PART	TO	_	24	mark	_	_
24	cry	cry	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	14	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hear** | past | BROTHER |  |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 2 | **not** **find** | could · passive |  | the goat |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: subject=Topic |
| 3 | **make** | past | the chief |  |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset |
| 4 | **begin** | past | a great palaver with Ode |  |  |  |  | who *nsubj* | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 5 | **cry** *speech: express* | to-infinitive | a great palaver with Ode *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «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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