---
title: But the parrot said that the hare could not go, and that he was only… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: But the parrot said that the hare could not go, and that he was only able to take his own family to the place where the palm nuts grew. Who acts: parrot, hare, plenty, palm nuts. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxii.--a Story of the Great Famine., with
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxii.--a Story of the Great Famine., sentence 6

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But the parrot said that the hare could not go, and that he was only able to take his own family to the place where the palm nuts grew.

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**Who acts:** parrot, hare, plenty, palm nuts · **What happens:** say, not go, be, take, grow · **To what, where:** own family, place · **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 (parrot, hare, plenty, palm nuts), 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:pg70959:16:6
# text = But the parrot said that the hare could not go, and that he was only able to take his own family to the place where the palm nuts grew.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	parrot	parrot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	hare	hare	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
8	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
9	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	10	advmod	_	_
10	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
13	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
14	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
15	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	cop	_	_
16	only	only	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	_
17	able	able	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	ccomp	_	_
18	to	to	PART	TO	_	19	mark	_	_
19	take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	xcomp	_	_
20	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	22	nmod:poss	_	_
21	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	amod	_	_
22	family	family	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obj	_	_
23	to	to	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	place	place	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	_
26	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	30	advmod	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
28	palm	palm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	compound	_	_
29	nuts	nut	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	30	nsubj	_	_
30	grew	grow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	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 parrot |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **not** **go** | could | the hare |  |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **is** | past | plenty |  |  |  |  | able *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **take** | to-infinitive | plenty *not said here* | plenty's own family |  | the place |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent family=Theme to place=Destination |
| 5 | **grow** | past | the palm nuts |  |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=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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