---
title: When the mother crab told the hare that she had killed the Elephanti… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: When the mother crab told the hare that she had killed the Elephantiasis he told her to drag the body to the stream and wash it. Who acts: mother crab, Elephantiasis. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins.,
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 2, sentence 34

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When the mother crab told the hare that she had killed the Elephantiasis he told her to drag the body to the stream and wash it.

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**Who acts:** mother crab, Elephantiasis · **What happens:** tell, kill, drag, wash · **To what, where:** hare, crab, Elephantiasis, body, stream · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (mother crab, Elephantiasis), 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:pg70959:19:34
# text = When the mother crab told the hare that she had killed the Elephantiasis he told her to drag the body to the stream and wash it.
1	When	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	5	mark	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	_
4	crab	crab	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	hare	hare	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	iobj	_	_
8	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
9	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj:pass	_	_
10	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
11	killed	kill	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	ccomp	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	Elephantiasis	elephantiasis	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	_
14	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
15	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	acl:relcl	_	_
16	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	iobj	_	_
17	to	to	PART	TO	_	18	mark	_	_
18	drag	drag	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	xcomp	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	body	body	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obj	_	_
21	to	to	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	stream	stream	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
25	wash	wash	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	conj	_	_
26	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | the mother crab |  | the hare |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent hare=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 2 | **kill** | past · perfect · passive |  | crab |  |  |  | the Elephantiasis *obj* | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP ADJ»: subject=Experiencer elephantiasis=Result |
| 3 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | Elephantiasis | the Elephantiasis *not said here* | crab |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent she=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 4 | **drag** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the Elephantiasis *not said here* | the body |  | the stream |  |  | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent body=Theme to stream=Destination |
| 5 | **wash** | infinitive | the Elephantiasis *not said here* | body |  |  |  |  | vn floss-41.2.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Patient |

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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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