---
title: As an instance of the native belief in the witch bird (the owl), I w… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: As an instance of the native belief in the witch bird (the owl), I would mention a case which came under my notice. Who acts: I, case, my. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Opening, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Opening, sentence 83

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As an instance of the native belief in the witch bird (the owl), I would mention a case which came under my notice.

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**Who acts:** I, case, my · **What happens:** mention, come, instance, notice · **To what, where:** case, notice, native belief

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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 (I, case, my), 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:pg70959:1:83
# text = As an instance of the native belief in the witch bird (the owl), I would mention a case which came under my notice.
1	As	as	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	instance	instance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	native	native	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	belief	belief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
8	in	in	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	witch	witch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	compound	_	_
11	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	_
12	(	(	PUNCT	-LRB-	_	14	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	owl	owl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	)	)	PUNCT	-RRB-	_	14	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
17	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
18	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
19	mention	mention	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
20	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	case	case	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obj	_	_
22	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	23	nsubj	_	_
23	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	acl:relcl	_	_
24	under	under	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	26	nmod:poss	_	_
26	notice	notice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	19	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mention** *speech: other* | would | I | a case |  |  |  | as a instance of the native belief in the witch bird | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent case=Topic |
| 2 | **come** | past | a case |  |  | my notice |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme under notice=Location |
| 3 | **instance** |  |  | the native belief in the witch bird |  |  |  |  | nom instance «event transitive»: of=patient |
| 4 | **notice** |  | my |  |  |  |  |  | nom notice «communication transitive»: poss=agent |

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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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