---
title: Awu had men friends in every town she visited, but she never stayed… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: Awu had men friends in every town she visited, but she never stayed long with any of them, being what is called a “walking woman.” Who acts: Awu. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, E. Dayrell., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, E. Dayrell., sentence 8

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Awu had men friends in every town she visited, but she never stayed long with any of them, being what is called a “walking woman.”

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**Who acts:** Awu · **What happens:** have, visit, not stay, be, call, walk · **To what, where:** men friends, town, walking woman · **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 (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:pg70959:3:8
# text = Awu had men friends in every town she visited, but she never stayed long with any of them, being what is called a “walking woman.”
1	Awu	Awu	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	compound	_	_
4	friends	friend	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	7	det	_	_
7	town	town	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
8	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
9	visited	visit	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
11	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
12	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
13	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	14	advmod	_	_
14	stayed	stay	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
15	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	14	advmod	_	_
16	with	with	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	14	obl	_	_
18	of	of	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
21	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	22	cop	_	_
22	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	14	parataxis	_	_
23	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	24	aux:pass	_	_
24	called	call	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	22	acl:relcl	_	_
25	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
26	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	27	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	walking	walk	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	28	amod	_	_
28	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past | Awu | men friends |  | every town |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent friend=Patient |
| 2 | **visit** | past | Awu | every town *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn meet-36.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent town=Co-Agent |
| 3 | **not** **stay** | past | Awu |  |  |  |  | with any of friends; long *property* | vn lodge-46 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme with any=Location |
| 4 | **is a** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **call** *speech: assert* | present · passive |  | a walking woman |  |  |  |  | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V» |
| 6 | **walk** *in a quote* | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=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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