---
title: When the people heard, this, they said to the hawk: “If you will let… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: When the people heard, this, they said to the hawk: “If you will let Awu have her son back we will give you a slave in his place,” but the hawk refused this offer indignantly. Who acts: people, hawk, Awu, we. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, E. Dayrell.
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, E. Dayrell., sentence 44

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When the people heard, this, they said to the hawk: “If you will let Awu have her son back we will give you a slave in his place,” but the hawk refused this offer indignantly.

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**Who acts:** people, hawk, Awu, we · **What happens:** hear, say, let, have back, give, refuse · **To what, where:** this, hawk, son, slave, place, offer · **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 (people, hawk, Awu, we), 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:pg70959:3:44
# text = When the people heard, this, they said to the hawk: “If you will let Awu have her son back we will give you a slave in his place,” but the hawk refused this offer indignantly.
1	When	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	heard	hear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
6	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
8	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
9	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
10	to	to	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	hawk	hawk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	18	punct	_	_
14	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	18	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	18	mark	_	_
16	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
17	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
18	let	let	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	ccomp	_	_
19	Awu	Awu	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	20	nsubj	_	_
20	have	have	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	xcomp	_	_
21	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	22	nmod:poss	_	_
22	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obj	_	_
23	back	back	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
24	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
25	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	26	aux	_	_
26	give	give	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	conj	_	_
27	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	26	iobj	_	_
28	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	slave	slave	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obj	_	_
30	in	in	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	32	nmod:poss	_	_
32	place	place	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	18	punct	_	_
35	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	38	cc	_	_
36	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
37	hawk	hawk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	nsubj	_	_
38	refused	refuse	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	conj	_	_
39	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	40	det	_	_
40	offer	offer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	obj	_	_
41	indignantly	indignantly	ADV	RB	_	38	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hear** | past | the people | this |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer this=Stimulus |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | people |  | the hawk |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to hawk=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 3 | **let** *a condition, not said to happen, in a quote* | future | the hawk *= hawk* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **have back** *in a quote* | infinitive | Awu | Awu's son |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent son=Patient |
| 5 | **give** *in a quote* | future | we | a slave | the hawk *= hawk* | boy's place |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent you=Recipient slave=Theme |
| 6 | **refuse** | past | the hawk | this offer |  |  |  | indignantly *property* | vn reject-77.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent offer=Theme |

<!-- .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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