---
title: The alligator then swam home and told his wife, who was mourning her… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: The alligator then swam home and told his wife, who was mourning her children, of the revenge he had taken upon the hare. Who acts: alligator, wife, iguana. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxii.--a Story of the Great Famine., with its dependency tree a
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxii.--a Story of the Great Famine., sentence 56

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The alligator then swam home and told his wife, who was mourning her children, of the revenge he had taken upon the hare.

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**Who acts:** alligator, wife, iguana · **What happens:** swim, tell, mourn, take · **To what, where:** wife, children · **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, wife, 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:pg70959:16:56
# text = The alligator then swam home and told his wife, who was mourning her children, of the revenge he had taken upon the hare.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	alligator	alligator	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	4	advmod	_	_
4	swam	swim	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	home	home	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
8	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
11	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	13	nsubj	_	_
12	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
13	mourning	mourn	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	9	acl	_	_
14	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	15	nmod:poss	_	_
15	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
17	of	of	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	revenge	revenge	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	_
20	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
21	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	_
22	taken	take	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	7	conj	_	_
23	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	hare	hare	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **swim** | past | the alligator |  |  |  | then | home *property* | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | the alligator *not said here* |  | iguana's wife |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent wife=Recipient |
| 3 | **mourn** | past · progressive | iguana's wife | wife's children |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer child=Stimulus |
| 4 | **take** | past · perfect | iguana |  |  |  |  | of the revenge; upon the hare | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP PP.initial\_location»: agent=Agent of revenge=Initial\_Location |

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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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