---
title: The next morning the head fighting man released the prisoner, and ha… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: The next morning the head fighting man released the prisoner, and having tied him up to a tree, cut his head off with his matchet. Who acts: fighting man. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Ix.--the Story of the War Between Inkum and Enfitop., with its de
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Ix.--the Story of the War Between Inkum and Enfitop., sentence 60

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The next morning the head fighting man released the prisoner, and having tied him up to a tree, cut his head off with his matchet.

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**Who acts:** fighting man · **What happens:** fight, release, tie up, cut off · **To what, where:** prisoner, man, head

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This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Ix.--the Story of the War Between Inkum and Enfitop.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (fighting man), 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:pg70959:7:60
# text = The next morning the head fighting man released the prisoner, and having tied him up to a tree, cut his head off with his matchet.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	next	next	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	morning	morning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl:unmarked	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
5	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	fighting	fight	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	7	amod	_	_
7	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
8	released	release	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	prisoner	prisoner	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
13	having	have	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	14	aux	_	_
14	tied	tie	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	8	conj	_	_
15	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	obj	_	_
16	up	up	ADP	RP	_	14	compound:prt	_	_
17	to	to	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
21	cut	cut	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	conj	_	_
22	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	23	nmod:poss	_	_
23	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obj	_	_
24	off	off	ADP	RP	_	21	compound:prt	_	_
25	with	with	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	27	nmod:poss	_	_
27	matchet	matchet	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fight** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | head *compound* | vn battle-36.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **release** | past | the fighting man | the prisoner |  |  | morning |  | vn free-10.6.3-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Causer prisoner=Source |
| 3 | **tie up** | gerund · perfect | the fighting man *not said here* | man |  |  |  | to a tree | vn mix-22.1-2 «NP V NP PP.co-patient»: agent=Agent he=Patient to tree=Co-Patient |
| 4 | **cut off** | past | the fighting man *not said here* | man's head |  |  |  | with man's matchet | vn stop-55.4-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: agent=Affector head=Eventuality |

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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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