---
title: Directly Aictor, who was sitting near the chief on a palm-tree, saw… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: Directly Aictor, who was sitting near the chief on a palm-tree, saw Agbor, he began to call his name, and said he had broken the hunting law. Who acts: Aictor, chief. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a P
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 3, sentence 5

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Directly Aictor, who was sitting near the chief on a palm-tree, saw Agbor, he began to call his name, and said he had broken the hunting law.

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**Who acts:** Aictor, chief · **What happens:** sit, see, begin, call, say, break · **To what, where:** chief, Agbor, name, hunting law · **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 (Aictor, 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:pg70959:26:5
# text = Directly Aictor, who was sitting near the chief on a palm-tree, saw Agbor, he began to call his name, and said he had broken the hunting law.
1	Directly	directly	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
2	Aictor	Aictor	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	16	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
4	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	6	nsubj	_	_
5	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
6	sitting	sit	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	acl	_	_
7	near	near	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	chief	chief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
10	on	on	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
12	palm	palm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
16	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
17	Agbor	Agbor	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	16	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
19	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
20	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	conj	_	_
21	to	to	PART	TO	_	22	mark	_	_
22	call	call	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	xcomp	_	_
23	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	24	nmod:poss	_	_
24	name	name	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
27	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	conj	_	_
28	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
29	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	30	aux	_	_
30	broken	break	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	27	ccomp	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
32	hunting	hunting	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	compound	_	_
33	law	law	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	16	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sit** | past · progressive | Aictor |  |  | the chief |  | on a palm tree | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent near chief=Location |
| 2 | **see** | past | Aictor | Agbor |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer agbor=Stimulus |
| 3 | **begin** | past | chief |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 4 | **call** | to-infinitive | chief *not said here* | chief's name |  |  |  |  | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent name=Recipient |
| 5 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Aictor *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 6 | **break** | past · perfect | chief | the hunting law |  |  |  |  | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer law=Patient |
| 7 | **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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