--- title: As they did not understand what the bird said, they started off to r… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics description: As they did not understand what the bird said, they started off to run again, and did not stop until they reached the small stream quite close to the town, which is called “Ezi Ifom” (“the water where the cows drink”). Who acts: women, bird, cows. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Niger --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/25/81/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/) / [Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/25/) / 81 # Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 2, sentence 81 As they did not understand what the bird said, they started off to run again, and did not stop until they reached the small stream quite close to the town, which is called “Ezi Ifom” (“the water where the cows drink”). **Who acts:** women, bird, cows · **What happens:** not understand, say, start off, run, not stop, reach · **To what, where:** small stream, town · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (women, bird, cows), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong. ## The tree {#tree} ```conllu # sent_id = book:pg70959:25:81 # text = As they did not understand what the bird said, they started off to run again, and did not stop until they reached the small stream quite close to the town, which is called “Ezi Ifom” (“the water where the cows drink”). 1 As as SCONJ IN _ 5 mark _ _ 2 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 5 nsubj _ _ 3 did do AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 5 aux _ _ 4 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 5 advmod _ _ 5 understand understand VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 21 advcl _ _ 6 what what PRON WP PronType=Int 9 obj _ _ 7 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 8 det _ _ 8 bird bird NOUN NN Number=Sing 9 nsubj _ _ 9 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 5 ccomp _ SpaceAfter=No 10 , , PUNCT , _ 12 punct _ _ 11 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 12 nsubj _ _ 12 started start VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 9 conj _ _ 13 off off ADP RP _ 12 compound:prt _ _ 14 to to PART TO _ 15 mark _ _ 15 run run VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 12 xcomp _ _ 16 again again ADV RB _ 15 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 17 , , PUNCT , _ 21 punct _ _ 18 and and CCONJ CC _ 21 cc _ _ 19 did do AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 21 aux _ _ 20 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 21 advmod _ _ 21 stop stop VERB VB Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 22 until until SCONJ IN _ 24 mark _ _ 23 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 24 nsubj _ _ 24 reached reach VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 21 advcl _ _ 25 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 27 det _ _ 26 small small ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 27 amod _ _ 27 stream stream NOUN NN Number=Sing 24 obj _ _ 28 quite quite ADV RB _ 29 advmod _ _ 29 close close ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 27 amod _ _ 30 to to ADP IN _ 32 case _ _ 31 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 32 det _ _ 32 town town NOUN NN Number=Sing 29 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 33 , , PUNCT , _ 36 punct _ _ 34 which which PRON WDT PronType=Rel 36 nsubj:pass _ _ 35 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 36 aux:pass _ _ 36 called call VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 32 acl:relcl _ _ 37 “ " PUNCT `` _ 38 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 38 Ezi Ezi PROPN NNP Number=Sing 36 xcomp _ _ 39 Ifom Ifom PROPN NNP Number=Sing 38 flat _ SpaceAfter=No 40 ” " PUNCT '' _ 38 punct _ _ 41 ( ( PUNCT -LRB- _ 44 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 42 “ " PUNCT `` _ 44 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 43 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 44 det _ _ 44 water water NOUN NN Number=Sing 24 obj _ _ 45 where where ADV WRB PronType=Rel 48 advmod _ _ 46 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 47 det _ _ 47 cows cow NOUN NNS Number=Plur 48 nsubj _ _ 48 drink drink VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 44 acl:relcl _ SpaceAfter=No 49 ” " PUNCT '' _ 48 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 50 ) ) PUNCT -RRB- _ 44 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 51 . . PUNCT . _ 21 punct _ SpaceAfter=No ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **not** **understand** | past · do-support | women *= woman* | | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus | | 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the bird | | | | | what *obj* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent what=Topic | | 3 | **start off** | past | women *= woman* | | | | | | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality | | 4 | **run** | to-infinitive | women *= woman* *not said here* | | | | again | | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 5 | **not** **stop** | past · do-support | | | | | | | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality | | 6 | **reach** | past | women *= woman* | the small stream | | | | the water *obj* | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP.beneficiary NP»: agent=Agent stream=Beneficiary water=Theme | | 7 | **call** *speech: assert* | present · passive | | the town | | | | Ezi *xcomp* | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: subject=Recipient | | 8 | **drink** *in a quote* | present | the cows | | | | | | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 80](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/25/80/) - next →: [sentence 82](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/25/82/) - ↑ back to [Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/25/)