---
title: He also asked them to allow him to be rowed across the river by an i… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: He also asked them to allow him to be rowed across the river by an iguana, who is deaf and cannot hear anyone shouting. Who acts: painting, iguana. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxii.--a Story of the Great Famine., with its dependency tree and the pr
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxii.--a Story of the Great Famine., sentence 39

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He also asked them to allow him to be rowed across the river by an iguana, who is deaf and cannot hear anyone shouting.

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**Who acts:** painting, iguana · **What happens:** ask, allow, row, be, not hear, shout · **To what, where:** alligators, painting, river, anyone

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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 (painting, iguana), 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:pg70959:16:39
# text = He also asked them to allow him to be rowed across the river by an iguana, who is deaf and cannot hear anyone shouting.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	also	also	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
3	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	obj	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	allow	allow	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
7	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	iobj	_	_
8	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
9	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	aux:pass	_	_
10	rowed	row	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	advcl	_	_
11	across	across	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	_
14	by	by	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	iguana	iguana	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
18	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	20	nsubj	_	_
19	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	20	cop	_	_
20	deaf	deaf	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	appos	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
22	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	24	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	24	advmod	_	_
24	hear	hear	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	conj	_	_
25	anyone	anyone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	24	obj	_	_
26	shouting	shout	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	25	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | painting |  | alligators *= alligator* |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S\_INF»: agent=Agent they=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 2 | **allow** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | painting *not said here* |  | painting |  |  |  | vn allow-64.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Beneficiary |
| 3 | **row** | to-infinitive · passive | a iguana |  |  | the river |  |  | vn nonvehicle-51.4.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent across river=Trajectory |
| 4 | **is** | present | a iguana |  |  |  |  | deaf *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **not** **hear** | can | a iguana *not said here* | anyone |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer anyone=Stimulus |
| 6 | **shout** *speech: express* | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

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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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