---
title: The chief said, “Very well, I hear what you say, and will not marry… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: The chief said, “Very well, I hear what you say, and will not marry the woman at present. Who acts: chief, you. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Vii.--how Two Friends Fell Out: the Spider and the Grasshopper., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Vii.--how Two Friends Fell Out: the Spider and the Grasshopper., sentence 90

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The chief said, “Very well, I hear what you say, and will not marry the woman at present.

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**Who acts:** chief, you · **What happens:** say, hear, not marry · **To what, where:** woman, present · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Vii.--how Two Friends Fell Out: the Spider and the Grasshopper.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (chief, 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:pg70959:6:90
# text = The chief said, “Very well, I hear what you say, and will not marry the woman at present.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	chief	chief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
5	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	Very	very	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	3	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
9	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	hear	hear	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
11	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	13	obj	_	_
12	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
13	say	say	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
16	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
17	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	18	advmod	_	_
18	marry	marry	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	conj	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obj	_	_
21	at	at	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	present	present	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	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 | the chief |  |  |  |  | well *property* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **hear** *in a quote* | present | the chief *= chief* |  |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | present | you |  |  |  |  | what *obj* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent what=Topic |
| 4 | **not** **marry** *in a quote* | future | the chief *= chief* *not said here* | the woman |  | present |  |  | vn amalgamate-22.2-3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent woman=Patient |

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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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