---
title: It did not take him long to discover his hawk’s feather, which was i… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: It did not take him long to discover his hawk’s feather, which was in the hair of one of the fighting-men. Who acts: It, feather. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxi.--why the Head of the Male Goat Smells So Strong., with its dependency tree and the pr
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxi.--why the Head of the Male Goat Smells So Strong., sentence 22

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It did not take him long to discover his hawk’s feather, which was in the hair of one of the fighting-men.

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**Who acts:** It, feather · **What happens:** not take, discover, be · **To what, where:** play, feather, hair

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This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxi.--why the Head of the Male Goat Smells So Strong.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (It, feather), 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:pg70959:15:22
# text = It did not take him long to discover his hawk’s feather, which was in the hair of one of the fighting-men.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	obj	_	_
6	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	4	advmod	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	discover	discover	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	advcl	_	_
9	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	10	nmod:poss	_	_
10	hawk	hawk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	’s	's	PART	POS	_	10	case	_	_
12	feather	feather	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
14	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	18	nsubj	_	_
15	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	cop	_	_
16	in	in	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	hair	hair	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	appos	_	_
19	of	of	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
20	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	18	nmod	_	_
21	of	of	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
23	fighting	fighting	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	23	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **take** | past · do-support | It |  | play |  |  | long *property* | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP ADVP»: agent=Instrument he=Destination |
| 2 | **discover** | to-infinitive |  | play's hawk's feather |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent feather=Topic |
| 3 | **is** | past | play's hawk's feather |  |  | the hair |  | of one of the fighting men | tree rules |

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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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