---
title: When he arrived at the house Agbor wanted to sit at the head of his… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: When he arrived at the house Agbor wanted to sit at the head of his mother, but the people who had assembled would not allow this, and told him to sit at Awu’s feet, which Agbor did. Who acts: HAWK, Agbor, people. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, E. Day
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, E. Dayrell., sentence 37

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When he arrived at the house Agbor wanted to sit at the head of his mother, but the people who had assembled would not allow this, and told him to sit at Awu’s feet, which Agbor did.

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**Who acts:** HAWK, Agbor, people · **What happens:** arrive, want, sit, assemble, not allow, tell · **To what, where:** house, head, this, HAWK, feet · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, E. Dayrell.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (HAWK, Agbor, 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:pg70959:3:37
# text = When he arrived at the house Agbor wanted to sit at the head of his mother, but the people who had assembled would not allow this, and told him to sit at Awu’s feet, which Agbor did.
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	arrived	arrive	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	advcl	_	_
4	at	at	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
7	Agbor	Agbor	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
8	wanted	want	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	sit	sit	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	xcomp	_	_
11	at	at	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	_
14	of	of	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	16	nmod:poss	_	_
16	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
18	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	26	nsubj	_	_
21	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	23	nsubj	_	_
22	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	aux	_	_
23	assembled	assemble	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	20	acl:relcl	_	_
24	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	26	aux	_	_
25	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	26	advmod	_	_
26	allow	allow	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	conj	_	_
27	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	26	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
29	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
30	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	conj	_	_
31	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	iobj	_	_
32	to	to	PART	TO	_	33	mark	_	_
33	sit	sit	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	30	xcomp	_	_
34	at	at	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
35	Awu	Awu	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	37	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	’s	's	PART	POS	_	35	case	_	_
37	feet	foot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	33	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	41	punct	_	_
39	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	41	obj	_	_
40	Agbor	Agbor	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	41	nsubj	_	_
41	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	33	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **arrive** | past | HAWK |  |  | the house |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **want** | past | Agbor |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 3 | **sit** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | Agbor *not said here* |  |  | the head of HAWK's mother |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent at head=Location |
| 4 | **assemble** | past · perfect | the people |  |  |  |  |  | vn herd-47.5.2 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **not** **allow** | would | the people | this |  |  |  |  | vn allow-64.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent this=Beneficiary |
| 6 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | Agbor *not said here* |  | HAWK |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent he=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 7 | **sit** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | Agbor *not said here* |  |  | Awu's feet |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent at foot=Location |
| 8 | **do** | past | Agbor |  |  |  |  | which *obj* | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent which=Eventuality |

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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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