---
title: Essama reserved a leg, some of the soup, and a yam, which she placed… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: Essama reserved a leg, some of the soup, and a yam, which she placed in a pot and hung over the fire to keep warm for Ode when he returned from the river. Who acts: Essama, yam, BROTHER. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’n
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 3, sentence 35

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Essama reserved a leg, some of the soup, and a yam, which she placed in a pot and hung over the fire to keep warm for Ode when he returned from the river.

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**Who acts:** Essama, yam, BROTHER · **What happens:** reserve, place, hang, keep, return · **To what, where:** leg, pot, fire, river

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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 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Essama, yam, BROTHER), 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:pg70959:26:35
# text = Essama reserved a leg, some of the soup, and a yam, which she placed in a pot and hung over the fire to keep warm for Ode when he returned from the river.
1	Essama	Essama	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	reserved	reserve	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	leg	leg	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
6	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	9	nsubj	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	soup	soup	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	yam	yam	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
15	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	17	nsubj	_	_
16	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
17	placed	place	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	acl:relcl	_	_
18	in	in	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	pot	pot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
22	hung	hang	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	conj	_	_
23	over	over	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	fire	fire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	_
26	to	to	PART	TO	_	27	mark	_	_
27	keep	keep	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	advcl	_	_
28	warm	warm	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	xcomp	_	_
29	for	for	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
30	Ode	Ode	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	_
31	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	33	advmod	_	_
32	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	nsubj	_	_
33	returned	return	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	advcl	_	_
34	from	from	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **reserve** | past | Essama | a leg and the soup |  |  |  | a yam *obl* | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent leg=Theme |
| 2 | **place** | past | a yam |  |  | a pot |  | ESSAMA *nsubj* | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent in pot=Destination |
| 3 | **hang** | past | a yam *not said here* |  |  | the fire |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent over fire=Location |
| 4 | **keep** | to-infinitive | a yam *not said here* |  |  |  |  | for Ode; warm *property* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **return** | past | BROTHER |  |  | the river |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme from river=Initial\_Location |

<!-- .note -->
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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