---
title: All the people were called together to dance and play, guns were fir… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: All the people were called together to dance and play, guns were fired off in the town, and Chief Tawn killed four more cows for the strangers who had come from a distance. Who acts: Chief, strangers. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Vii.--how Two Frien
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Vii.--how Two Friends Fell Out: the Spider and the Grasshopper., sentence 22

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All the people were called together to dance and play, guns were fired off in the town, and Chief Tawn killed four more cows for the strangers who had come from a distance.

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**Who acts:** Chief, strangers · **What happens:** call together, dance, play, fire off, kill, come · **To what, where:** people, guns, town, four more cows

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This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Vii.--how Two Friends Fell Out: the Spider and the Grasshopper.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Chief, strangers), 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:pg70959:6:22
# text = All the people were called together to dance and play, guns were fired off in the town, and Chief Tawn killed four more cows for the strangers who had come from a distance.
1	All	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	3	det:predet	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
4	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux:pass	_	_
5	called	call	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	together	together	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	dance	dance	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	xcomp	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	play	play	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
12	guns	gun	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	nsubj:pass	_	_
13	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	aux:pass	_	_
14	fired	fire	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	conj	_	_
15	off	off	ADP	RP	_	14	compound:prt	_	_
16	in	in	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	town	town	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
21	Chief	Chief	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	23	nsubj	_	_
22	Tawn	Tawn	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	21	flat	_	_
23	killed	kill	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
24	four	four	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	26	nummod	_	_
25	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	26	amod	_	_
26	cows	cow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	obj	_	_
27	for	for	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	strangers	stranger	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	obl	_	_
30	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	32	nsubj	_	_
31	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	32	aux	_	_
32	come	come	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	29	acl:relcl	_	_
33	from	from	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
34	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	distance	distance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **call together** *speech: assert* | past · passive |  | all people |  |  |  | together *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **dance** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn modes\_of\_being\_with\_motion-47.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **play** | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn performance-26.7-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **fire off** | past · passive |  | guns |  | the town |  |  | vn throw-17.1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: subject=Theme in town=Destination |
| 5 | **kill** | past | Chief | four more cows |  |  |  | for the strangers | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent cow=Theme |
| 6 | **come** | past · perfect | the strangers |  |  |  |  | from a distance | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme from distance=Initial\_Location |

<!-- .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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