---
title: That night the hawk told the eagle that it was the cock and hens who… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: That night the hawk told the eagle that it was the cock and hens who told the bush cow to wave his arm over his horns, otherwise he never would have been found. Who acts: hawk, amount, hens. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxx.--the Game of Hide-and-se
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxx.--the Game of Hide-and-seek As Played By the Hawk and the Bush Cow., sentence 35

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That night the hawk told the eagle that it was the cock and hens who told the bush cow to wave his arm over his horns, otherwise he never would have been found.

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**Who acts:** hawk, amount, hens · **What happens:** tell, be, wave, not find · **To what, where:** eagle, cock, bush cow, arm, horns, antelope · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxx.--the Game of Hide-and-seek As Played By the Hawk and the Bush Cow.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (hawk, amount, hens), 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:pg70959:23:35
# text = That night the hawk told the eagle that it was the cock and hens who told the bush cow to wave his arm over his horns, otherwise he never would have been found.
1	That	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	2	det	_	_
2	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl:unmarked	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	hawk	hawk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	eagle	eagle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
8	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
9	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
10	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	cop	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	cock	cock	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	ccomp	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
14	hens	hen	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	conj	_	_
15	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	16	nsubj	_	_
16	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	acl:relcl	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
18	bush	bush	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	compound	_	_
19	cow	cow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obj	_	_
20	to	to	PART	TO	_	21	mark	_	_
21	wave	wave	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	ccomp	_	_
22	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	23	nmod:poss	_	_
23	arm	arm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obj	_	_
24	over	over	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	26	nmod:poss	_	_
26	horns	horn	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
28	otherwise	otherwise	ADV	RB	_	34	advmod	_	_
29	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	34	nsubj	_	_
30	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	34	advmod	_	_
31	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	34	aux	_	_
32	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	34	aux	_	_
33	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	34	aux:pass	_	_
34	found	find	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	21	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | the hawk |  | the eagle |  | night |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent eagle=Recipient |
| 2 | **is a** | past | amount | the cock and hens |  |  |  | hens *conj* | tree rules |
| 3 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | hens |  | the bush cow |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent cow=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 4 | **wave** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive |  | antelope's arm |  | antelope's horns |  |  | vn wink-40.3.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent arm=Patient |
| 5 | **not** **find** | would · perfect · passive |  | antelope |  |  |  | otherwise *property* | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: subject=Topic |

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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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