---
title: As his son had been drowned, the chief would not allow his daughter… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: As his son had been drowned, the chief would not allow his daughter to cross the river, and returned home with his people very sorrowfully. Who acts: chief. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., pa
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 3, sentence 53

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As his son had been drowned, the chief would not allow his daughter to cross the river, and returned home with his people very sorrowfully.

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**Who acts:** chief · **What happens:** drown, not allow, cross, return · **To what, where:** son, daughter, river

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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), 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:pg70959:26:53
# text = As his son had been drowned, the chief would not allow his daughter to cross the river, and returned home with his people very sorrowfully.
1	As	as	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
2	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
3	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj:pass	_	_
4	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
5	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	6	aux:pass	_	_
6	drowned	drown	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	12	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	chief	chief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
10	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
11	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	12	advmod	_	_
12	allow	allow	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
13	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	14	nmod:poss	_	_
14	daughter	daughter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	iobj	_	_
15	to	to	PART	TO	_	16	mark	_	_
16	cross	cross	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	xcomp	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
21	returned	return	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	parataxis	_	_
22	home	home	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
23	with	with	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	25	nmod:poss	_	_
25	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	obl	_	_
26	very	very	ADV	RB	_	27	advmod	_	_
27	sorrowfully	sorrowfully	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	12	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **drown** | past · perfect · passive |  | son's son |  |  |  |  | vn poison-42.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 2 | **not** **allow** | would | the chief |  | son's daughter |  |  |  | vn allow-64.1-1 «NP V NP S»: agent=Causer daughter=Beneficiary clause=Eventuality |
| 3 | **cross** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the chief *not said here* | the river |  |  |  |  | vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent river=Patient |
| 4 | **return** | past |  |  |  |  |  | with son's people; home, sorrowfully *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=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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