---
title: Not long after this the Elephantiasis rolled himself down to the str… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: Not long after this the Elephantiasis rolled himself down to the stream, where he met the mother crab, looking very fierce, and asked her if she had seen the hare. Who acts: Elephantiasis, hare, crab. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxv.--how Two Bende
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 2, sentence 23

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Not long after this the Elephantiasis rolled himself down to the stream, where he met the mother crab, looking very fierce, and asked her if she had seen the hare.

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**Who acts:** Elephantiasis, hare, crab · **What happens:** roll down, meet, look, ask, see · **To what, where:** Elephantiasis, stream, mother crab, crab, hare

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This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 2. 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, crab), 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:pg70959:19:23
# text = Not long after this the Elephantiasis rolled himself down to the stream, where he met the mother crab, looking very fierce, and asked her if she had seen the hare.
1	Not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	2	advmod	_	_
2	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	7	advmod	_	_
3	after	after	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	2	obl	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	Elephantiasis	Elephantiasis	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
7	rolled	roll	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	7	obj	_	_
9	down	down	ADP	RP	_	7	compound:prt	_	_
10	to	to	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	stream	stream	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
14	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	16	advmod	_	_
15	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
16	met	meet	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
18	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	compound	_	_
19	crab	crab	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
21	looking	look	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	16	advcl	_	_
22	very	very	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	_
23	fierce	fierce	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
26	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	parataxis	_	_
27	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	iobj	_	_
28	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	31	mark	_	_
29	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
30	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	aux	_	_
31	seen	see	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	26	advcl	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	hare	hare	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **roll down** | past | the Elephantiasis | Elephantiasis |  | the stream |  | long *property* | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V NP PP.trajectory»: agent=Agent himself=Theme to stream=Trajectory |
| 2 | **meet** | past | hare | the mother crab |  |  |  |  | vn meet-36.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent crab=Co-Agent |
| 3 | **look** | gerund | hare *not said here* |  |  |  |  | fierce *property* | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Stimulus |
| 4 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past |  |  | crab |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent she=Recipient |
| 5 | **see** *a condition, not said to happen* | past · perfect | crab | the hare |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer hare=Stimulus |

<!-- .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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