---
title: All this time a hawk had been circling around, high up in the air, s… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: All this time a hawk had been circling around, high up in the air, searching for food, and when he saw Awu had deserted her baby he swooped down and carried the infant off with him to the top of a high tree. Who acts: hawk, Awu. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone 
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, E. Dayrell., sentence 16

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All this time a hawk had been circling around, high up in the air, searching for food, and when he saw Awu had deserted her baby he swooped down and carried the infant off with him to the top of a high tree.

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**Who acts:** hawk, Awu · **What happens:** circle around, search, see, desert, swoop down, carry off · **To what, where:** baby, top · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, E. Dayrell.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (hawk, Awu), 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:pg70959:3:16
# text = All this time a hawk had been circling around, high up in the air, searching for food, and when he saw Awu had deserted her baby he swooped down and carried the infant off with him to the top of a high tree.
1	All	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	3	det:predet	_	_
2	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	3	det	_	_
3	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl:unmarked	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	hawk	hawk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
6	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
7	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	8	aux	_	_
8	circling	circle	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
9	around	around	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
11	high	high	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	12	advmod	_	_
12	up	up	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
13	in	in	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	air	air	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
17	searching	search	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	8	conj	_	_
18	for	for	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
22	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	24	advmod	_	_
23	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
24	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	conj	_	_
25	Awu	Awu	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	27	nsubj	_	_
26	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	aux	_	_
27	deserted	desert	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	24	ccomp	_	_
28	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	29	nmod:poss	_	_
29	baby	baby	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obj	_	_
30	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
31	swooped	swoop	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	parataxis	_	_
32	down	down	ADP	RP	_	31	compound:prt	_	_
33	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
34	carried	carry	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	conj	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	infant	infant	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	37	advmod	_	_
37	off	off	ADP	RP	_	34	compound:prt	_	_
38	with	with	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
39	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	34	obl	_	_
40	to	to	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
41	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	42	det	_	_
42	top	top	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obl	_	_
43	of	of	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
44	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	46	det	_	_
45	high	high	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	46	amod	_	_
46	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **circle around** | past · perfect · progressive | a hawk |  |  |  | time | around *property* | vn contiguous\_location-47.8 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **search** | gerund | a hawk *not said here* |  |  |  |  | for food | vn search-35.2 «NP V PP.theme NP.location»: agent=Agent for food=Theme |
| 3 | **see** | past | HAWK |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 4 | **desert** | past · perfect | Awu | Awu's baby |  |  |  |  | vn leave-51.2-1 «NP V NP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme baby=Source |
| 5 | **swoop down** | past | HAWK |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **carry off** | past | HAWK *not said here* |  |  | the top of a high tree |  | with HAWK | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent to top=Destination |

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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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