---
title: His father then said he was convinced that someone must have stolen… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: His father then said he was convinced that someone must have stolen the goat, and that all his people, including his son and daughter, would have to go through the ordeal of crossing over the river on a rope, to find out who had stolen the goat. Who acts: father, BROTHER, someone, people. A sentence
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 3, sentence 44

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His father then said he was convinced that someone must have stolen the goat, and that all his people, including his son and daughter, would have to go through the ordeal of crossing over the river on a rope, to find out who had stolen the goat.

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**Who acts:** father, BROTHER, someone, people, ordeal · **What happens:** say, be, steal, have, go, cross · **To what, where:** goat, ordeal, river · **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 (father, BROTHER, someone, people), 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:pg70959:26:44
# text = His father then said he was convinced that someone must have stolen the goat, and that all his people, including his son and daughter, would have to go through the ordeal of crossing over the river on a rope, to find out who had stolen the goat.
1	His	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	4	advmod	_	_
4	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
6	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
7	convinced	convinced	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	ccomp	_	_
8	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
9	someone	someone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	12	nsubj	_	_
10	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
11	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	aux	_	_
12	stolen	steal	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	7	ccomp	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	goat	goat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
17	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	29	mark	_	_
18	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	20	det:predet	_	_
19	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	20	nmod:poss	_	_
20	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
22	including	including	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	24	nmod:poss	_	_
24	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nmod	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
26	daughter	daughter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
28	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	29	aux	_	_
29	have	have	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	ccomp	_	_
30	to	to	PART	TO	_	31	mark	_	_
31	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	29	xcomp	_	_
32	through	through	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	ordeal	ordeal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obl	_	_
35	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	36	mark	_	_
36	crossing	cross	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	34	acl	_	_
37	over	over	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
38	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
39	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	obl	_	_
40	on	on	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
41	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	42	det	_	_
42	rope	rope	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	45	punct	_	_
44	to	to	PART	TO	_	45	mark	_	_
45	find	find	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	29	parataxis	_	_
46	out	out	ADP	RP	_	45	compound:prt	_	_
47	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	49	nsubj	_	_
48	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	49	aux	_	_
49	stolen	steal	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	45	ccomp	_	_
50	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	51	det	_	_
51	goat	goat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	49	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | BROTHER's father |  |  |  | then |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **is** | past | BROTHER |  |  |  |  | convinced *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **steal** | must · perfect | someone | the goat |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location goat=Theme |
| 4 | **have** | would | BROTHER's people including BROTHER's son and daughter |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **go** | to-infinitive | BROTHER's people including BROTHER's son and daughter *not said here* |  |  | the ordeal |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme through ordeal=Initial\_Location |
| 6 | **cross** | gerund | the ordeal *not said here* |  |  | the river |  | on a rope | vn escape-51.1-1-3 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme over river=Initial\_Location |
| 7 | **find out** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V what S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 8 | **steal** | past · perfect |  | the goat |  |  |  | who *nsubj* | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location goat=Theme |

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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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