---
title: While they were engaged in drawing the tie-tie from the trees, one m… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: While they were engaged in drawing the tie-tie from the trees, one man named Oyonga heard a voice calling out, “Who is drawing the tie-tie there?” Who acts: voice. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Pyth
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 3, sentence 60

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While they were engaged in drawing the tie-tie from the trees, one man named Oyonga heard a voice calling out, “Who is drawing the tie-tie there?”

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**Who acts:** voice · **What happens:** engage, draw, name, hear, call out · **To what, where:** boys, tie tie, trees, one man, voice · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (voice), 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:pg70959:26:60
# text = While they were engaged in drawing the tie-tie from the trees, one man named Oyonga heard a voice calling out, “Who is drawing the tie-tie there?”
1	While	while	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux:pass	_	_
4	engaged	engage	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	19	advcl	_	_
5	in	in	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
6	drawing	draw	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	19	advcl	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
8	tie	tie	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	tie	tie	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
11	from	from	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	trees	tree	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
15	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	16	nummod	_	_
16	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	appos	_	_
17	named	name	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	16	acl	_	_
18	Oyonga	Oyonga	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	17	xcomp	_	_
19	heard	hear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
20	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	voice	voice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obj	_	_
22	calling	call	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	21	acl	_	_
23	out	out	ADP	RP	_	22	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
25	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	28	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	Who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	28	nsubj	_	_
27	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	28	aux	_	_
28	drawing	draw	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	22	conj	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
30	tie	tie	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	30	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	tie	tie	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obj	_	_
33	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	28	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	19	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	19	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **engage** | past · passive |  | boys *= boy* |  |  |  |  | vn amalgamate-22.2-3-2 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 2 | **draw** | gerund |  | the tie tie |  | the trees |  |  | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP PP.initial\_location»: agent=Agent tie=Theme from tree=Initial\_Location |
| 3 | **name** | participle |  | one man *not said here* |  |  |  | Oyonga *xcomp* | vn appoint-29.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **hear** | past |  | a voice |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer voice=Stimulus |
| 5 | **call out** *speech: ask* | gerund | a voice *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **draw** *in a quote* | present · progressive |  | the tie tie |  | there |  | Who *nsubj* | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tie=Theme |

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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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