---
title: The hare said, “If you do this, and then throw me up in the air as h… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: The hare said, “If you do this, and then throw me up in the air as high as you can, so that my body will fall into the pit on the sharp stakes, then I shall die in great pain, and in three days’ time my body will be much swollen and will then be better worth eating.” Who acts: hare, you, body. A sen
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxii.--a Story of the Great Famine., sentence 51

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The hare said, “If you do this, and then throw me up in the air as high as you can, so that my body will fall into the pit on the sharp stakes, then I shall die in great pain, and in three days’ time my body will be much swollen and will then be better worth eating.”

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**Who acts:** hare, you, body · **What happens:** say, do, throw up, fall, die, be · **To what, where:** this, hare, air, pit · **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 (hare, you, body), 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:pg70959:16:51
# text = The hare said, “If you do this, and then throw me up in the air as high as you can, so that my body will fall into the pit on the sharp stakes, then I shall die in great pain, and in three days’ time my body will be much swollen and will then be better worth eating.”
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	hare	hare	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
5	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
7	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
8	do	do	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	13	advcl	_	_
9	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	8	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
12	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	13	advmod	_	_
13	throw	throw	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	ccomp	_	_
14	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	13	obj	_	_
15	up	up	ADP	RP	_	13	compound:prt	_	_
16	in	in	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	air	air	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	_
19	as	as	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
20	high	high	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	advcl	_	_
21	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
22	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
23	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	20	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
25	so	so	SCONJ	IN	ExtPos=SCONJ	30	mark	_	_
26	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	25	fixed	_	_
27	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	28	nmod:poss	_	_
28	body	body	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	nsubj	_	_
29	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	30	aux	_	_
30	fall	fall	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	advcl	_	_
31	into	into	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	pit	pit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obl	_	_
34	on	on	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
36	sharp	sharp	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	37	amod	_	_
37	stakes	stake	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	30	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	42	punct	_	_
39	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	42	advmod	_	_
40	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	42	nsubj	_	_
41	shall	shall	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	42	aux	_	_
42	die	die	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	conj	_	_
43	in	in	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
44	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	45	amod	_	_
45	pain	pain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	58	punct	_	_
47	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	58	cc	_	_
48	in	in	ADP	IN	_	52	case	_	_
49	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	50	nummod	_	_
50	days	day	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	52	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	’	's	PART	POS	_	50	case	_	_
52	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	58	obl	_	_
53	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	54	nmod:poss	_	_
54	body	body	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	58	nsubj	_	_
55	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	58	aux	_	_
56	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	58	cop	_	_
57	much	much	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	58	amod	_	_
58	swollen	swollen	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	parataxis	_	_
59	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	63	cc	_	_
60	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	63	aux	_	_
61	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	63	advmod	_	_
62	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	63	cop	_	_
63	better	good	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	58	conj	_	_
64	worth	worth	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	63	amod	_	_
65	eating	eat	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	64	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
66	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
67	”	"	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 hare |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **do** *a condition, not said to happen, in a quote* | present | you | this |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent this=Eventuality |
| 3 | **throw up** *in a quote* | infinitive |  | the hare *= hare* |  | the air | then |  | vn breathe-40.1.2 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent i=Theme |
| 4 | **fall** *in a quote* | future | my body |  |  | the pit |  | on the sharp stakes | vn occur-48.3 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme on stake=Location |
| 5 | **die** *in a quote* | shall | the hare *= hare* |  |  |  | then | in great pain | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1 «NP.patient V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient in pain=Attribute |
| 6 | **is** *in a quote* | future | my body |  |  |  | time | swollen *property* | tree rules |
| 7 | **is** *in a quote* | future | my body *not said here* |  |  |  | then | good *property* | tree rules |
| 8 | **eat** *in a quote* | gerund | my body *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «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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