--- title: “Here is a ‘walking woman’ who, several years ago, gave birth to twi… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics description: “Here is a ‘walking woman’ who, several years ago, gave birth to twins in the forest, and, being naturally ashamed of herself, deserted her baby boy, and left him on the ground to be eaten by the driver ants. Who acts: driver ants. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinsto --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/3/41/) [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/) / [E. Dayrell.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/3/) / 41 # Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, E. Dayrell., sentence 41 “Here is a ‘walking woman’ who, several years ago, gave birth to twins in the forest, and, being naturally ashamed of herself, deserted her baby boy, and left him on the ground to be eaten by the driver ants. **Who acts:** driver ants · **What happens:** be, walk, give, desert, leave, eat · **To what, where:** birth, twins, forest, baby boy, boy, ground 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 (driver ants), 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:pg70959:3:41 # text = “Here is a ‘walking woman’ who, several years ago, gave birth to twins in the forest, and, being naturally ashamed of herself, deserted her baby boy, and left him on the ground to be eaten by the driver ants. 1 “ " PUNCT `` _ 2 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 2 Here here ADV RB PronType=Dem 0 root _ _ 3 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 2 cop _ _ 4 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 7 det _ _ 5 ‘ ' PUNCT `` _ 6 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 6 walking walk VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 7 amod _ _ 7 woman woman NOUN NN Number=Sing 13 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 8 ’ ' PUNCT '' _ 7 punct _ _ 9 who who PRON WP PronType=Rel 13 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 10 , , PUNCT , _ 13 punct _ _ 11 several several ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 12 amod _ _ 12 years year NOUN NNS Number=Plur 13 obl:unmarked _ _ 13 ago ago ADV RB _ 2 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 14 , , PUNCT , _ 15 punct _ _ 15 gave give VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 13 parataxis _ _ 16 birth birth NOUN NN Number=Sing 15 obj _ _ 17 to to ADP IN _ 18 case _ _ 18 twins twin NOUN NNS Number=Plur 15 obl _ _ 19 in in ADP IN _ 21 case _ _ 20 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 21 det _ _ 21 forest forest NOUN NN Number=Sing 15 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 22 , , PUNCT , _ 27 punct _ _ 23 and and CCONJ CC _ 27 cc _ SpaceAfter=No 24 , , PUNCT , _ 23 punct _ _ 25 being be AUX VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 27 cop _ _ 26 naturally naturally ADV RB _ 27 advmod _ _ 27 ashamed ashamed ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 15 advcl _ _ 28 of of ADP IN _ 29 case _ _ 29 herself herself PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes 27 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 30 , , PUNCT , _ 31 punct _ _ 31 deserted desert VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 27 conj _ _ 32 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 34 nmod:poss _ _ 33 baby baby NOUN NN Number=Sing 34 compound _ _ 34 boy boy NOUN NN Number=Sing 31 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 35 , , PUNCT , _ 37 punct _ _ 36 and and CCONJ CC _ 37 cc _ _ 37 left leave VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 31 conj _ _ 38 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 37 obj _ _ 39 on on ADP IN _ 41 case _ _ 40 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 41 det _ _ 41 ground ground NOUN NN Number=Sing 37 obl _ _ 42 to to PART TO _ 44 mark _ _ 43 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 44 aux:pass _ _ 44 eaten eat VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 37 advcl _ _ 45 by by ADP IN _ 48 case _ _ 46 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 48 det _ _ 47 driver driver NOUN NN Number=Sing 48 compound _ _ 48 ants ant NOUN NNS Number=Plur 44 obl:agent _ SpaceAfter=No 49 . . PUNCT . _ 2 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is** *in a quote* | present | | | | | | here *property* | tree rules | | 2 | **walk** *in a quote* | gerund | | | | | | | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 3 | **give** *in a quote* | past | | birth | twins | the forest | | | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent birth=Theme to twin=Recipient | | 4 | **is** *in a quote* | gerund | | | | | | of WOMAN; ashamed, naturally *property* | tree rules | | 5 | **desert** *in a quote* | past | | WOMAN's baby boy | | | | | vn leave-51.2-1 «NP V NP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme boy=Source | | 6 | **leave** *in a quote* | past | | boy | | the ground | | | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent he=Theme on ground=Location | | 7 | **eat** *in a quote* | to-infinitive · passive | the driver ants | | | | | | 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 40](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/3/40/) - next →: [sentence 42](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/3/42/) - ↑ back to [E. Dayrell.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/3/)