---
title: While she was wondering where the sounds came from, the big drum ope… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: While she was wondering where the sounds came from, the big drum opened his lips wide and swallowed her up. Who acts: way, sounds, big drum. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xix.--why the Mist Rises From the Water., with its dependency tree and the prag
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xix.--why the Mist Rises From the Water., sentence 100

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While she was wondering where the sounds came from, the big drum opened his lips wide and swallowed her up.

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**Who acts:** way, sounds, big drum · **What happens:** wonder, come, open, swallow up · **To what, where:** lips, way

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This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xix.--why the Mist Rises From the Water.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (way, sounds, big drum), 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:pg70959:14:100
# text = While she was wondering where the sounds came from, the big drum opened his lips wide and swallowed her up.
1	While	while	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
2	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	wondering	wonder	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	14	advcl	_	_
5	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	8	advmod	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	sounds	sound	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj	_	_
8	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	advcl	_	_
9	from	from	ADP	IN	_	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
12	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	drum	drum	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	_
14	opened	open	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
15	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	16	nmod:poss	_	_
16	lips	lip	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	obj	_	_
17	wide	wide	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
19	swallowed	swallow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	conj	_	_
20	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	obj	_	_
21	up	up	ADP	RP	_	19	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	14	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **wonder** *speech: ask* | past · progressive | way |  |  |  |  |  | vn care-88.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 2 | **come** | past | the sounds |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **open** | past | the big drum | sound's lips |  |  |  | wide *property* | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location lip=Theme |
| 4 | **swallow up** | past | the big drum *not said here* | way |  |  |  |  | vn gobble-39.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent she=Patient |

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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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