---
title: Chief ’Ndabu was, however, not a happy man, as all the time he was y… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: Chief ’Ndabu was, however, not a happy man, as all the time he was young he never had a son who should inherit his property when he died. Who acts: Ndabu, time, son. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xii.--concerning the Okuni Witches and Cannibalism., w
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xii.--concerning the Okuni Witches and Cannibalism., sentence 4

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Chief ’Ndabu was, however, not a happy man, as all the time he was young he never had a son who should inherit his property when he died.

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**Who acts:** Ndabu, time, son · **What happens:** not be, be, not have, inherit, die · **To what, where:** happy man, son, property

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This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xii.--concerning the Okuni Witches and Cannibalism.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Ndabu, time, son), 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:pg70959:9:4
# text = Chief ’Ndabu was, however, not a happy man, as all the time he was young he never had a son who should inherit his property when he died.
1	Chief	Chief	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nmod:poss	_	_
2	’	's	PART	POS	_	1	case	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	Ndabu	Ndabu	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	cop	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
6	however	however	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
8	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	11	advmod	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	happy	happy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
13	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	19	mark	_	_
14	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	16	det:predet	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nsubj	_	_
17	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
18	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	cop	_	_
19	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	conj	_	_
20	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
21	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	22	advmod	_	_
22	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	parataxis	_	_
23	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obj	_	_
25	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	27	nsubj	_	_
26	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	27	aux	_	_
27	inherit	inherit	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	24	acl:relcl	_	_
28	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	29	nmod:poss	_	_
29	property	property	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obj	_	_
30	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	32	advmod	_	_
31	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
32	died	die	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **is a** | past | Chief's Ndabu | a happy man |  |  |  | however *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **is** | past | all time |  |  |  |  | Ndabu *nsubj*; young *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **not** **have** | past | Ndabu | a son |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent son=Patient |
| 4 | **inherit** | should | a son | Ndabu's property |  |  |  |  | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent property=Theme |
| 5 | **die** | past | Ndabu |  |  |  |  |  | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |

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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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