--- title: Immediately the bats hear the gun fired, they desert the trees they… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics description: Immediately the bats hear the gun fired, they desert the trees they are sheltering in, and commence circling around in the air, flying about in a most aimless and erratic sort of way, until, after about ten minutes, they settle on a different tree. Who acts: bats. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories fr --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/1/126/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/) / [Opening](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/1/) / 126 # Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Opening, sentence 126 Immediately the bats hear the gun fired, they desert the trees they are sheltering in, and commence circling around in the air, flying about in a most aimless and erratic sort of way, until, after about ten minutes, they settle on a different tree. **Who acts:** bats · **What happens:** hear, fire, desert, shelter, commence, circle around · **To what, where:** gun, trees, air, most aimless sort, way This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Opening. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (bats), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong. ## The tree {#tree} ```conllu # sent_id = book:pg70959:1:126 # text = Immediately the bats hear the gun fired, they desert the trees they are sheltering in, and commence circling around in the air, flying about in a most aimless and erratic sort of way, until, after about ten minutes, they settle on a different tree. 1 Immediately immediately ADV RB _ 4 advmod _ _ 2 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 3 det _ _ 3 bats bat NOUN NNS Number=Plur 4 nsubj _ _ 4 hear hear VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 5 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 6 det _ _ 6 gun gun NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 obj _ _ 7 fired fire VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 6 acl _ SpaceAfter=No 8 , , PUNCT , _ 10 punct _ _ 9 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 10 nsubj _ _ 10 desert desert VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 4 conj _ _ 11 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 12 det _ _ 12 trees tree NOUN NNS Number=Plur 10 obj _ _ 13 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 15 nsubj _ _ 14 are be AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 15 aux _ _ 15 sheltering shelter VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 10 advcl _ _ 16 in in ADV RB _ 15 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 17 , , PUNCT , _ 19 punct _ _ 18 and and CCONJ CC _ 19 cc _ _ 19 commence commence VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 4 conj _ _ 20 circling circle VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 19 xcomp _ _ 21 around around ADV RB _ 20 advmod _ _ 22 in in ADP IN _ 24 case _ _ 23 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 24 det _ _ 24 air air NOUN NN Number=Sing 20 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 25 , , PUNCT , _ 26 punct _ _ 26 flying fly VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 20 conj _ _ 27 about about ADV RB _ 26 advmod _ _ 28 in in ADP IN _ 34 case _ _ 29 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 34 det _ _ 30 most most ADJ JJS Degree=Sup 34 amod _ _ 31 aimless aimless ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 34 amod _ _ 32 and and CCONJ CC _ 33 cc _ _ 33 erratic erratic ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 31 conj _ _ 34 sort sort NOUN NN Number=Sing 26 obl _ _ 35 of of ADP IN _ 36 case _ _ 36 way way NOUN NN Number=Sing 34 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 37 , , PUNCT , _ 43 punct _ _ 38 until until ADP IN _ 43 case _ SpaceAfter=No 39 , , PUNCT , _ 43 punct _ _ 40 after after ADP IN _ 43 case _ _ 41 about about ADV RB _ 42 advmod _ _ 42 ten ten NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 43 nummod _ _ 43 minutes minute NOUN NNS Number=Plur 19 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 44 , , PUNCT , _ 46 punct _ _ 45 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 46 nsubj _ _ 46 settle settle VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 19 conj _ _ 47 on on ADP IN _ 50 case _ _ 48 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 50 det _ _ 49 different different ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 50 amod _ _ 50 tree tree NOUN NN Number=Sing 46 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 51 . . PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **hear** | present | the bats | the gun | | | | immediately *property* | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer gun=Stimulus | | 2 | **fire** | participle | | the gun *not said here* | | | | | vn throw-17.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | | 3 | **desert** | present | bats *= bat* | the trees | | | | | vn leave-51.2-1 «NP V NP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme tree=Source | | 4 | **shelter** | present · progressive | bats *= bat* | | | | | | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 5 | **commence** | present | the bats *not said here* | | | | minute | | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality | | 6 | **circle around** | gerund | the bats *not said here* | | | the air | | around *property* | vn contiguous\_location-47.8 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme | | 7 | **fly** | gerund | the bats *not said here* | | | a most aimless sort of way | | about *property* | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in sort=Location | | 8 | **settle** | present | bats *= bat* | | | | | on a different tree | vn correspond-36.1 «NP V PP.theme S»: agent=Agent on tree=Topic | | 9 | **sort** | | | way | | | | | nom sort «cognition transitive»: of=patient | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 125](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/1/125/) - next →: [sentence 127](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/1/127/) - ↑ back to [Opening](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/1/)