---
title: The elephant said he did not care much for either fish or meat, and… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: The elephant said he did not care much for either fish or meat, and had none to give, so he gave the goat some beans instead. Who acts: elephant. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxi.--why the Head of the Male Goat Smells So Strong., with its dependency
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxi.--why the Head of the Male Goat Smells So Strong., sentence 6

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The elephant said he did not care much for either fish or meat, and had none to give, so he gave the goat some beans instead.

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**Who acts:** elephant · **What happens:** say, not care, have, give · **To what, where:** none, beans, goat · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxi.--why the Head of the Male Goat Smells So Strong.. 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:pg70959:15:6
# text = The elephant said he did not care much for either fish or meat, and had none to give, so he gave the goat some beans instead.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	elephant	elephant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
5	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
6	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	7	advmod	_	_
7	care	care	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	ccomp	_	_
8	much	much	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
9	for	for	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	either	either	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	11	det	_	_
11	fish	fish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
12	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
13	meat	meat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
16	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
17	none	none	PRON	NN	PronType=Neg	16	obj	_	_
18	to	to	PART	TO	_	19	mark	_	_
19	give	give	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
21	so	so	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	_
22	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
23	gave	give	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	goat	goat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obj	_	_
26	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	27	det	_	_
27	beans	bean	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	obj	_	_
28	instead	instead	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the elephant |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **not** **care** | past · do-support | elephant |  |  |  |  | for either fish or meat | vn caring-75.2-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent for fish=Theme |
| 3 | **have** | past | the elephant *not said here* | none |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent none=Patient |
| 4 | **give** | to-infinitive | the elephant *not said here* | none *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn break\_down-45.8 «NP V»: agent=Patient |
| 5 | **give** | past | elephant | some beans | the goat |  |  | instead *property* | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent goat=Recipient bean=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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