---
title: One day the elephant told his friends, the hawk and the crab, that h… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: One day the elephant told his friends, the hawk and the crab, that he was going to hunt in the forest on a certain day. Who acts: elephant. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xviii.--how the River Came Into Existence; Or, Why a Crab Has No Head., with its
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xviii.--how the River Came Into Existence; Or, Why a Crab Has No Head., sentence 3

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One day the elephant told his friends, the hawk and the crab, that he was going to hunt in the forest on a certain day.

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**Who acts:** elephant · **What happens:** tell, go, hunt · **To what, where:** friends, forest · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xviii.--how the River Came Into Existence; Or, Why a Crab Has No Head.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (elephant), 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:pg70959:13:3
# text = One day the elephant told his friends, the hawk and the crab, that he was going to hunt in the forest on a certain day.
1	One	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	2	nummod	_	_
2	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl:unmarked	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	elephant	elephant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	friends	friend	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	iobj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	hawk	hawk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	conj	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	crab	crab	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
15	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	18	mark	_	_
16	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
17	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
18	going	go	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	5	ccomp	_	_
19	to	to	PART	TO	_	20	mark	_	_
20	hunt	hunt	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	xcomp	_	_
21	in	in	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	forest	forest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	_
24	on	on	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
25	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
26	certain	certain	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	amod	_	_
27	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | the elephant |  | elephant's friends and the hawk and the crab |  | day |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent friend=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 2 | **go** | past · progressive | elephant |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7 «NP V S-Quote»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **hunt** | to-infinitive | elephant *not said here* |  |  | the forest | day |  | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V PP.theme PP.location»: agent=Agent in forest=Location |

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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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