--- title: That day he painted the alligators’ eldest son with long-dark stripe… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics description: That day he painted the alligators’ eldest son with long-dark stripes across his body, and when he had finished he held the young alligator up to the hole for his parents to see, and asked them if they were satisfied. Who acts: hole, young, alligators. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/16/31/) [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/) / [Xxii.--a Story of the Great Famine.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/16/) / 31 # Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxii.--a Story of the Great Famine., sentence 31 That day he painted the alligators’ eldest son with long-dark stripes across his body, and when he had finished he held the young alligator up to the hole for his parents to see, and asked them if they were satisfied. **Who acts:** hole, young, alligators · **What happens:** paint, finish, hold, alligator up, see, ask · **To what, where:** eldest son, body, alligators This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxii.--a Story of the Great Famine.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (hole, young, alligators), 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:pg70959:16:31 # text = That day he painted the alligators’ eldest son with long-dark stripes across his body, and when he had finished he held the young alligator up to the hole for his parents to see, and asked them if they were satisfied. 1 That that DET DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 2 det _ _ 2 day day NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 obl:unmarked _ _ 3 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 4 nsubj _ _ 4 painted paint VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 5 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 6 det _ _ 6 alligators alligator NOUN NNS Number=Plur 9 nmod:poss _ SpaceAfter=No 7 ’ 's PART POS _ 6 case _ _ 8 eldest eld ADJ JJS Degree=Sup 9 amod _ _ 9 son son NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 obj _ _ 10 with with ADP IN _ 14 case _ _ 11 long long ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 13 amod _ SpaceAfter=No 12 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 11 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 13 dark dark ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 14 amod _ _ 14 stripes stripe NOUN NNS Number=Plur 4 obl _ _ 15 across across ADP IN _ 17 case _ _ 16 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 17 nmod:poss _ _ 17 body body NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 18 , , PUNCT , _ 23 punct _ _ 19 and and CCONJ CC _ 23 cc _ _ 20 when when ADV WRB PronType=Int 23 advmod _ _ 21 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 23 nsubj _ _ 22 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 23 aux _ _ 23 finished finish VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 25 advcl _ _ 24 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 25 nsubj _ _ 25 held hold VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 parataxis _ _ 26 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 27 det _ _ 27 young young ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 28 nsubj _ _ 28 alligator alligator VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 25 ccomp _ _ 29 up up ADP RP _ 28 compound:prt _ _ 30 to to ADP IN _ 32 case _ _ 31 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 32 det _ _ 32 hole hole NOUN NN Number=Sing 28 obl _ _ 33 for for ADP IN _ 35 case _ _ 34 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 35 nmod:poss _ _ 35 parents parent NOUN NNS Number=Plur 32 nmod _ _ 36 to to PART TO _ 37 mark _ _ 37 see see VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 35 acl _ SpaceAfter=No 38 , , PUNCT , _ 40 punct _ _ 39 and and CCONJ CC _ 40 cc _ _ 40 asked ask VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 conj _ _ 41 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 40 obj _ _ 42 if if SCONJ IN _ 45 mark _ _ 43 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 45 nsubj _ _ 44 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 45 cop _ _ 45 satisfied satisfied ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 40 ccomp _ SpaceAfter=No 46 . . PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **paint** | past | hole | | the alligators's eldest son | hole's body | day | with dark stripes | vn image\_impression-25.1 «NP V NP.destination PP.theme»: agent=Agent son=Destination with stripe=Theme | | 2 | **finish** | past · perfect | hole | | | | | | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality | | 3 | **hold** | past | hole | | | | | | vn conjecture-29.5 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme | | 4 | **alligator up** | present | the young | | | | | to the hole for hole's parents | tree rules | | 5 | **see** | to-infinitive | the young *not said here* | | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer | | 6 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | hole *not said here* | | alligators *= alligator* | | | | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent they=Recipient | | 7 | **is** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | alligators *= alligator* | | | | | satisfied *property* | tree rules | 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 30](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/16/30/) - next →: [sentence 32](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/16/32/) - ↑ back to [Xxii.--a Story of the Great Famine.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/16/)