--- title: But his wife said that she was satisfied that her husband had spoken… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics description: But his wife said that she was satisfied that her husband had spoken the truth, as all the hares she had seen had had their tails cut off, so she had resolved to turn back. Who acts: wife, hares. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Yo --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/19/74/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/) / [Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Change…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/19/) / 74 # Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 2, sentence 74 But his wife said that she was satisfied that her husband had spoken the truth, as all the hares she had seen had had their tails cut off, so she had resolved to turn back. **Who acts:** wife, hares · **What happens:** say, be, speak, see, have, cut off · **To what, where:** husband, hares, tails · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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 (wife, hares), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong. ## The tree {#tree} ```conllu # sent_id = book:pg70959:19:74 # text = But his wife said that she was satisfied that her husband had spoken the truth, as all the hares she had seen had had their tails cut off, so she had resolved to turn back. 1 But but CCONJ CC _ 4 cc _ _ 2 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 3 nmod:poss _ _ 3 wife wife 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 _ 8 mark _ _ 6 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 8 nsubj _ _ 7 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 8 cop _ _ 8 satisfied satisfied ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 4 ccomp _ _ 9 that that SCONJ IN _ 13 mark _ _ 10 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 11 nmod:poss _ _ 11 husband husband NOUN NN Number=Sing 13 nsubj:pass _ _ 12 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 13 aux _ _ 13 spoken speak VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 25 advcl _ _ 14 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 15 det _ _ 15 truth truth NOUN NN Number=Sing 13 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 16 , , PUNCT , _ 20 punct _ _ 17 as as ADP IN _ 20 case _ _ 18 all all DET PDT PronType=Tot 20 det:predet _ _ 19 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 20 det _ _ 20 hares hare NOUN NNS Number=Plur 25 nsubj _ _ 21 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 23 nsubj _ _ 22 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 23 aux _ _ 23 seen see VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 20 acl:relcl _ _ 24 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 25 aux _ _ 25 had have VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 8 parataxis _ _ 26 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 27 nmod:poss _ _ 27 tails tail NOUN NNS Number=Plur 25 obj _ _ 28 cut cut VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 27 acl _ _ 29 off off ADP RP _ 28 compound:prt _ SpaceAfter=No 30 , , PUNCT , _ 34 punct _ _ 31 so so ADV RB _ 34 advmod _ _ 32 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 34 nsubj _ _ 33 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 34 aux _ _ 34 resolved resolve VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 4 conj _ _ 35 to to PART TO _ 36 mark _ _ 36 turn turn VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 34 xcomp _ _ 37 back back ADV RB _ 36 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 38 . . PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | hare's wife | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent | | 2 | **is** | past | wife | | | | | satisfied *property* | tree rules | | 3 | **speak** *speech: other* | past · perfect · passive | | wife's husband | | | | the truth *obj* | tree rules | | 4 | **see** | past · perfect | wife | all hares *not said here* | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer hare=Stimulus | | 5 | **have** | past · perfect | all hares | men's tails | | | | | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tail=Patient | | 6 | **cut off** | participle | | men's tails *not said here* | | | | | vn stop-55.4-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality | | 7 | **resolve** | past · perfect | wife | | | | | | tree rules | | 8 | **turn back** | to-infinitive | wife *not said here* | | | | | | vn banish-10.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 73](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/19/73/) - next →: [sentence 75](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/19/75/) - ↑ back to [Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/19/)