--- title: Then the man presented the “night” calabash towards Nkanyan three ti… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics description: Then the man presented the “night” calabash towards Nkanyan three times, but as he held it out for the third time, Nkanyan hit it with his matchet and smashed it to pieces with one blow. Who acts: man, Nkanyan. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xii.--con --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/9/81/) [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/) / [Xii.--concerning the Okuni Witches and…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/9/) / 81 # Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xii.--concerning the Okuni Witches and Cannibalism., sentence 81 Then the man presented the “night” calabash towards Nkanyan three times, but as he held it out for the third time, Nkanyan hit it with his matchet and smashed it to pieces with one blow. **Who acts:** man, Nkanyan · **What happens:** present, hold out, hit, smash · **To what, where:** night calabash, way This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xii.--concerning the Okuni Witches and Cannibalism.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (man, Nkanyan), 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:pg70959:9:81 # text = Then the man presented the “night” calabash towards Nkanyan three times, but as he held it out for the third time, Nkanyan hit it with his matchet and smashed it to pieces with one blow. 1 Then then ADV RB PronType=Dem 4 advmod _ _ 2 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 3 det _ _ 3 man man NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 nsubj _ _ 4 presented present VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 5 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 9 det _ _ 6 “ " PUNCT `` _ 7 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 7 night night NOUN NN Number=Sing 9 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 8 ” " PUNCT '' _ 7 punct _ _ 9 calabash calabash NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 obj _ _ 10 towards towards ADP IN _ 11 case _ _ 11 Nkanyan Nkanyan PROPN NNP Number=Sing 4 obl _ _ 12 three three NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 13 nummod _ _ 13 times time NOUN NNS Number=Plur 4 obl:unmarked _ SpaceAfter=No 14 , , PUNCT , _ 27 punct _ _ 15 but but CCONJ CC _ 27 cc _ _ 16 as as SCONJ IN _ 18 mark _ _ 17 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 18 nsubj _ _ 18 held hold VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 27 advcl _ _ 19 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 18 obj _ _ 20 out out ADP RP _ 18 compound:prt _ _ 21 for for ADP IN _ 24 case _ _ 22 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 24 det _ _ 23 third third ADJ JJ Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord 24 amod _ _ 24 time time NOUN NN Number=Sing 18 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 25 , , PUNCT , _ 18 punct _ _ 26 Nkanyan Nkanyan PROPN NNP Number=Sing 27 nsubj _ _ 27 hit hit VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 parataxis _ _ 28 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 27 obj _ _ 29 with with ADP IN _ 31 case _ _ 30 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 31 nmod:poss _ _ 31 matchet matchet NOUN NN Number=Sing 27 obl _ _ 32 and and CCONJ CC _ 33 cc _ _ 33 smashed smash VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 27 conj _ _ 34 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 33 obj _ _ 35 to to ADP IN _ 36 case _ _ 36 pieces piece NOUN NNS Number=Plur 33 obl _ _ 37 with with ADP IN _ 39 case _ _ 38 one one NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 39 nummod _ _ 39 blow blow NOUN NN Number=Sing 33 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 40 . . PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **present** | past | the man | the night calabash | | | then; time | towards Nkanyan | vn fulfilling-13.4.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent calabash=Theme | | 2 | **hold out** | past | Nkanyan | way | | | time | | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme | | 3 | **hit** | past | Nkanyan | way | | | | with Nkanyan's matchet | vn hit-18.1-1 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent it=Patient with matchet=Instrument | | 4 | **smash** | past | Nkanyan *not said here* | way | | | | to pieces *result*; with one blow | vn hit-18.1-1 «NP V NP PP.result PP.instrument»: agent=Agent it=Patient to piece=Result with blow=Instrument | 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 80](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/9/80/) - next →: [sentence 82](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/9/82/) - ↑ back to [Xii.--concerning the Okuni Witches and Cannibalism.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/9/)