---
title: When the Elephantiasis got back to the vine he called out to the har… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: When the Elephantiasis got back to the vine he called out to the hare, but as he did not receive any answer he guessed the hare had run home, so he rolled himself along the path after the hare, but although he was nearly round he could not travel nearly as fast as the hare, who was a very swift runn
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 1, sentence 66

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When the Elephantiasis got back to the vine he called out to the hare, but as he did not receive any answer he guessed the hare had run home, so he rolled himself along the path after the hare, but although he was nearly round he could not travel nearly as fast as the hare, who was a very swift runner indeed.

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**Who acts:** Elephantiasis, hare · **What happens:** get back, call out, not receive, guess, run, roll · **To what, where:** vine, hare, answer, ELEPHANTIASIS, path, swift runner · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Elephantiasis, hare), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg70959:18:66
# text = When the Elephantiasis got back to the vine he called out to the hare, but as he did not receive any answer he guessed the hare had run home, so he rolled himself along the path after the hare, but although he was nearly round he could not travel nearly as fast as the hare, who was a very swift runner indeed.
1	When	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	Elephantiasis	elephantiasis	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	got	get	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	back	back	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
6	to	to	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	vine	vine	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
9	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	called	call	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	acl:relcl	_	_
11	out	out	ADP	RP	_	10	compound:prt	_	_
12	to	to	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	hare	hare	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
16	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
17	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	21	mark	_	_
18	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
19	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	_
20	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	21	advmod	_	_
21	receive	receive	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	conj	_	_
22	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	23	det	_	_
23	answer	answer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obj	_	_
24	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
25	guessed	guess	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	acl:relcl	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	hare	hare	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	nsubj:pass	_	_
28	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	aux	_	_
29	run	run	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	25	ccomp	_	_
30	home	home	ADV	RB	_	29	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
32	so	so	ADV	RB	_	34	advmod	_	_
33	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	34	nsubj	_	_
34	rolled	roll	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
35	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	34	obj	_	_
36	along	along	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
37	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
38	path	path	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obl	_	_
39	after	after	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
40	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
41	hare	hare	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	52	punct	_	_
43	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	52	cc	_	_
44	although	although	SCONJ	IN	_	52	mark	_	_
45	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	52	nsubj	_	_
46	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	52	cop	_	_
47	nearly	nearly	ADV	RB	_	52	advmod	_	_
48	round	round	ADP	IN	_	52	mark	_	_
49	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	52	nsubj	_	_
50	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	52	aux	_	_
51	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	52	advmod	_	_
52	travel	travel	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	conj	_	_
53	nearly	nearly	ADV	RB	_	55	advmod	_	_
54	as	as	ADV	RB	_	55	advmod	_	_
55	fast	fast	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	52	advmod	_	_
56	as	as	ADP	IN	_	58	case	_	_
57	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	58	det	_	_
58	hare	hare	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	55	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
59	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	65	punct	_	_
60	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	65	nsubj	_	_
61	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	65	cop	_	_
62	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	65	det	_	_
63	very	very	ADV	RB	_	64	advmod	_	_
64	swift	swift	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	65	amod	_	_
65	runner	runner	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	58	appos	_	_
66	indeed	indeed	ADV	RB	_	52	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
67	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **get back** | past | the Elephantiasis |  |  |  |  | to the vine *result* | vn convert-26.6.2 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Patient to vine=Result |
| 2 | **call out** *speech: assert* | past | ELEPHANTIASIS | the vine *not said here* | the hare |  |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent vine=Topic to hare=Recipient |
| 3 | **not** **receive** | past · do-support | ELEPHANTIASIS | any answer |  |  |  |  | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent answer=Theme |
| 4 | **guess** | past | ELEPHANTIASIS | any answer *not said here* |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **run** | past · perfect · passive |  | the hare |  |  |  | home *property* | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Agent |
| 6 | **roll** | past | ELEPHANTIASIS | ELEPHANTIASIS |  | the path after the hare |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V NP PP.trajectory»: agent=Agent himself=Theme along path=Trajectory |
| 7 | **not** **is** | could · past | ELEPHANTIASIS |  |  |  |  | fast, indeed, nearly, travel *property* | tree rules |
| 8 | **is a** | past | the hare | a swift runner |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .note -->
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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