---
title: When the alligator heard this he was wild with rage, and went up the… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: When the alligator heard this he was wild with rage, and went up the bank and called to the iguana to bring the hare back; but as he was deaf, the iguana took no notice. Who acts: alligator, iguana. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxii.--a Story of the
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxii.--a Story of the Great Famine., sentence 45

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When the alligator heard this he was wild with rage, and went up the bank and called to the iguana to bring the hare back; but as he was deaf, the iguana took no notice.

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**Who acts:** alligator, iguana · **What happens:** hear, be, go up, call, bring back, take · **To what, where:** this, bank, iguana, hare, notice · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (alligator, 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:pg70959:16:45
# text = When the alligator heard this he was wild with rage, and went up the bank and called to the iguana to bring the hare back; but as he was deaf, the iguana took no notice.
1	When	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	alligator	alligator	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	heard	hear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	4	obj	_	_
6	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
7	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
8	wild	wild	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	ccomp	_	_
9	with	with	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	rage	rage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
13	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
14	up	up	ADP	RP	_	13	compound:prt	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	bank	bank	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
18	called	call	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	13	conj	_	_
19	to	to	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	iguana	iguana	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	_
22	to	to	PART	TO	_	23	mark	_	_
23	bring	bring	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	acl	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	hare	hare	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obj	_	_
26	back	back	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
28	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
29	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	32	mark	_	_
30	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
31	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	32	cop	_	_
32	deaf	deaf	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	36	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	iguana	iguana	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	nsubj	_	_
36	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
37	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	38	det	_	_
38	notice	notice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hear** | past | the alligator | this |  |  |  | with rage | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer this=Stimulus |
| 2 | **is** | past | iguana |  |  |  |  | wild *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **go up** | past |  | the bank |  |  |  |  | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |
| 4 | **call** | participle |  |  | the iguana |  |  |  | vn animal\_sounds-38 «NP V PP.recipient»: agent=Agent to iguana=Recipient |
| 5 | **bring back** | to-infinitive |  |  | the hare |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP ADVP»: agent=Instrument hare=Destination |
| 6 | **is** | past | iguana |  |  |  |  | deaf *property* | tree rules |
| 7 | **take** | past | the iguana | no notice |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent notice=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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