---
title: As no one could understand the bird, the chief sent to Uman compound… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: As no one could understand the bird, the chief sent to Uman compound for a woman named Iman, who was a native of Abijon, and could, therefore, speak Ingor. Who acts: one, Iman, you. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere 
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 3, sentence 6

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As no one could understand the bird, the chief sent to Uman compound for a woman named Iman, who was a native of Abijon, and could, therefore, speak Ingor.

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**Who acts:** one, Iman, you · **What happens:** understand, send, name, be, speak · **To what, where:** bird, chief, Uman compound, woman, native, Ingor · **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 (one, Iman, you), 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:pg70959:26:6
# text = As no one could understand the bird, the chief sent to Uman compound for a woman named Iman, who was a native of Abijon, and could, therefore, speak Ingor.
1	As	as	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
2	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	3	det	_	_
3	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
4	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
5	understand	understand	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	33	advcl	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	chief	chief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	appos	_	_
11	sent	send	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	10	acl	_	_
12	to	to	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	Uman	uman	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	compound	compound	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	_
15	for	for	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl:agent	_	_
18	named	name	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	17	acl	_	_
19	Iman	Iman	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	18	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
21	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	24	nsubj	_	_
22	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	cop	_	_
23	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	native	native	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	appos	_	_
25	of	of	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
26	Abijon	Abijon	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	24	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
29	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
31	therefore	therefore	ADV	RB	_	29	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
33	speak	speak	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
34	Ingor	Ingor	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	33	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	33	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **understand** | could | no one | the bird |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer bird=Stimulus |
| 2 | **send** | participle |  | the chief *not said here* |  | Uman compound |  | a woman *obl:agent* | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent to compound=Destination |
| 3 | **name** | participle |  | a woman *not said here* |  |  |  | Iman *xcomp* | vn appoint-29.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **is a** | past | Iman | a native |  |  |  | of Abijon | tree rules |
| 5 | **speak** *speech: other* | imperative | you *not said here* | Ingor |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

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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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