---
title: Chief Indoma could not understand the reason of this message being s… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: Chief Indoma could not understand the reason of this message being sent, so he replied that he certainly would not tell his people to move, and that he would see what they could do. Who acts: Chief, people. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Ix.--the Stor
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Ix.--the Story of the War Between Inkum and Enfitop., sentence 36

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Chief Indoma could not understand the reason of this message being sent, so he replied that he certainly would not tell his people to move, and that he would see what they could do.

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**Who acts:** Chief, people · **What happens:** not understand, send, reply, not tell, move, see · **To what, where:** reason, message, people · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Ix.--the Story of the War Between Inkum and Enfitop.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Chief, 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:pg70959:7:36
# text = Chief Indoma could not understand the reason of this message being sent, so he replied that he certainly would not tell his people to move, and that he would see what they could do.
1	Chief	Chief	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
2	Indoma	Indoma	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	1	flat	_	_
3	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
5	understand	understand	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	reason	reason	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	10	det	_	_
10	message	message	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	_
11	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	12	aux:pass	_	_
12	sent	send	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	10	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
14	so	so	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
15	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
16	replied	reply	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
17	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
18	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
19	certainly	certainly	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	_
20	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	_
21	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	22	advmod	_	_
22	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	ccomp	_	_
23	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	24	nmod:poss	_	_
24	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	iobj	_	_
25	to	to	PART	TO	_	26	mark	_	_
26	move	move	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
29	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	32	mark	_	_
30	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
31	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	32	aux	_	_
32	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	conj	_	_
33	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	36	obj	_	_
34	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	36	nsubj	_	_
35	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	36	aux	_	_
36	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	32	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **understand** | could | Chief | the reason of this message |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer reason=Stimulus |
| 2 | **send** | gerund · passive |  | this message *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP» |
| 3 | **reply** *speech: assert* | past | Chief |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **not** **tell** *speech: assert* | would | Chief |  | Chief's people |  |  | certainly *property* | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent people=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 5 | **move** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **see** | would | Chief |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 7 | **do** | could | people |  |  |  |  | what *obj* | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Eventuality |

<!-- .note -->
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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