---
title: In the early morning before the sun rises you can always hear the bu… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: In the early morning before the sun rises you can always hear the bush fowls calling to the cocks and hens to come back and live with them, and shortly afterwards you can hear the cocks answering them, saying that they prefer to live in safety with the men. Who acts: you, bush, cocks. A sentence of 
---

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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 42

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In the early morning before the sun rises you can always hear the bush fowls calling to the cocks and hens to come back and live with them, and shortly afterwards you can hear the cocks answering them, saying that they prefer to live in safety with the men.

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**Who acts:** you, bush, cocks · **What happens:** rise, hear, fowl, call, come back, live · **To what, where:** cocks, safety · **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 (you, bush, cocks), 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:pg70959:23:42
# text = In the early morning before the sun rises you can always hear the bush fowls calling to the cocks and hens to come back and live with them, and shortly afterwards you can hear the cocks answering them, saying that they prefer to live in safety with the men.
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	early	early	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	morning	morning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
5	before	before	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	sun	sun	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
8	rises	rise	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
10	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
11	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	12	advmod	_	_
12	hear	hear	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	ccomp	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	bush	bush	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nsubj	_	_
15	fowls	fowl	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	12	parataxis	_	_
16	calling	call	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	15	xcomp	_	_
17	to	to	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	cocks	cock	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	obl	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
21	hens	hen	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	conj	_	_
22	to	to	PART	TO	_	23	mark	_	_
23	come	come	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	advcl	_	_
24	back	back	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
26	live	live	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	conj	_	_
27	with	with	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
28	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
30	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
31	shortly	shortly	ADV	RB	_	32	advmod	_	_
32	afterwards	afterwards	ADV	RB	_	35	advmod	_	_
33	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	35	nsubj	_	_
34	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	35	aux	_	_
35	hear	hear	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	conj	_	_
36	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
37	cocks	cock	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	35	obj	_	_
38	answering	answer	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	37	acl	_	_
39	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	38	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	41	punct	_	_
41	saying	say	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	35	advcl	_	_
42	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	44	mark	_	_
43	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	44	nsubj	_	_
44	prefer	prefer	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	41	ccomp	_	_
45	to	to	PART	TO	_	46	mark	_	_
46	live	live	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	44	xcomp	_	_
47	in	in	ADP	IN	_	48	case	_	_
48	safety	safety	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	46	obl	_	_
49	with	with	ADP	IN	_	51	case	_	_
50	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	51	det	_	_
51	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	46	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **rise** | present |  |  |  |  | before the sun; morning |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **hear** | can | you |  |  |  |  | always *property* | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V PP.stimulus»: agent=Experiencer |
| 3 | **fowl** | present | the bush |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **call** | gerund | the bush *not said here* |  | the cocks and hens |  |  |  | vn animal\_sounds-38 «NP V PP.recipient»: agent=Agent to cock=Recipient |
| 5 | **come back** | to-infinitive | the bush *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **live** | infinitive | the bush *not said here* |  |  |  |  | with cocks *= cock* | vn lodge-46 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme with they=Location |
| 7 | **hear** | can | you | the cocks |  |  |  | afterwards *property* | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer cock=Stimulus |
| 8 | **answer** *speech: assert* | gerund | the cocks *not said here* |  | cocks *= cock* |  |  |  | vn reciprocate-112-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent they=Eventuality |
| 9 | **say** *speech: assert* | gerund | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 10 | **prefer** | present | cocks *= cock* |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 11 | **live** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | cocks *= cock* *not said here* |  |  | safety |  | with the men | vn lodge-46 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in safety=Location |

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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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