---
title: Ogbaja could not understand this, so he counted the bodies again alo… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: Ogbaja could not understand this, so he counted the bodies again aloud, and again the cripple copied him. Who acts: Ogbaja, cripple. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xix.--why the Mist Rises From the Water., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics o
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xix.--why the Mist Rises From the Water., sentence 59

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Ogbaja could not understand this, so he counted the bodies again aloud, and again the cripple copied him.

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**Who acts:** Ogbaja, cripple · **What happens:** not understand, count, copy · **To what, where:** this, bodies, Ogbaja

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This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xix.--why the Mist Rises From the Water.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Ogbaja, cripple), 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:pg70959:14:59
# text = Ogbaja could not understand this, so he counted the bodies again aloud, and again the cripple copied him.
1	Ogbaja	Ogbaja	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
2	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	understand	understand	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
7	so	so	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
8	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
9	counted	count	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	bodies	body	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obj	_	_
12	again	again	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
13	aloud	aloud	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
16	again	again	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	cripple	cripple	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nsubj	_	_
19	copied	copy	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
20	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **understand** | could | Ogbaja | this |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer this=Stimulus |
| 2 | **count** | past | Ogbaja | the bodies |  |  | again | aloud *property* | vn multiply-108 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent body=Theme |
| 3 | **copy** | past | the cripple | Ogbaja |  |  | again |  | vn scribble-25.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=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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