---
title: The tombo is then poured out glass after glass and handed round unti… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: The tombo is then poured out glass after glass and handed round until there is only one glass left in the calabash and that is drunk by the chief’s small boy who drank the first glass, he leaves a little in the bottom of the glass and gives it to the chief who throws the contents on the ground to pr
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xv.--what Happened At Okuni When Anyone Was Killed By Accident., sentence 67

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The tombo is then poured out glass after glass and handed round until there is only one glass left in the calabash and that is drunk by the chief’s small boy who drank the first glass, he leaves a little in the bottom of the glass and gives it to the chief who throws the contents on the ground to propitiate the evil spirits.

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**Who acts:** one glass, small boy, pourer, chief · **What happens:** pour out, hand round, be, leave, drink, give · **To what, where:** tombo, one glass, calabash, that, first glass, little

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This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xv.--what Happened At Okuni When Anyone Was Killed By Accident.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (one glass, small boy, pourer, chief), 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:pg70959:12:68
# text = The tombo is then poured out glass after glass and handed round until there is only one glass left in the calabash and that is drunk by the chief’s small boy who drank the first glass, he leaves a little in the bottom of the glass and gives it to the chief who throws the contents on the ground to propitiate the evil spirits.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	tombo	tombo	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux:pass	_	_
4	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	5	advmod	_	_
5	poured	pour	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	out	out	ADP	RP	_	5	compound:prt	_	_
7	glass	glass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
8	after	after	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	glass	glass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	handed	hand	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	conj	_	_
12	round	round	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
13	until	until	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
14	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	15	expl	_	_
15	is	be	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	advcl	_	_
16	only	only	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	_
17	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	18	nummod	_	_
18	glass	glass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nsubj	_	_
19	left	leave	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	18	acl	_	_
20	in	in	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	calabash	calabash	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
24	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	26	nsubj:pass	_	_
25	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	26	aux:pass	_	_
26	drunk	drink	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	conj	_	_
27	by	by	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	chief	chief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	’s	's	PART	POS	_	29	case	_	_
31	small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	32	amod	_	_
32	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	_
33	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	34	nsubj	_	_
34	drank	drink	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	32	acl:relcl	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
36	first	first	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	37	amod	_	_
37	glass	glass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	40	punct	_	_
39	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	40	nsubj	_	_
40	leaves	leave	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
41	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	42	det	_	_
42	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	40	obj	_	_
43	in	in	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
44	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	45	det	_	_
45	bottom	bottom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	obl	_	_
46	of	of	ADP	IN	_	48	case	_	_
47	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	48	det	_	_
48	glass	glass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	nmod	_	_
49	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	50	cc	_	_
50	gives	give	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	40	conj	_	_
51	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	50	obj	_	_
52	to	to	ADP	IN	_	54	case	_	_
53	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	54	det	_	_
54	chief	chief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	50	obl	_	_
55	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	56	nsubj	_	_
56	throws	throw	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	54	acl:relcl	_	_
57	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	58	det	_	_
58	contents	contents	NOUN	NNS	Number=Ptan	56	obj	_	_
59	on	on	ADP	IN	_	61	case	_	_
60	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	61	det	_	_
61	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	56	obl	_	_
62	to	to	PART	TO	_	63	mark	_	_
63	propitiate	propitiate	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	56	advcl	_	_
64	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	66	det	_	_
65	evil	evil	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	66	amod	_	_
66	spirits	spirit	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	63	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
67	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pour out** | present · passive |  | the tombo |  |  | after glass; then |  | vn pour-9.5 «NP V NP ADVP»: subject=Theme glass=Destination |
| 2 | **hand round** | participle |  |  |  |  |  | round *property* | vn send-11.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **be** | present | one glass |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **leave** | participle |  | one glass *not said here* |  |  |  | in the calabash *result* | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient in calabash=Result |
| 5 | **drink** | present · passive | the chief's small boy | that |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Patient |
| 6 | **drink** | past | the chief's small boy | the first glass |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent glass=Patient |
| 7 | **leave** | present | pourer | a little |  | the bottom of the glass |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent little=Theme in bottom=Location |
| 8 | **give** | present | pourer *not said here* | tombo | the chief |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent it=Theme to chief=Recipient |
| 9 | **throw** | present | the chief | the contents |  | the ground |  |  | vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent contents=Theme on ground=Destination |
| 10 | **propitiate** | to-infinitive | the chief *not said here* | the evil spirits |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .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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