---
title: The tortoise was the last to arrive, and when he saw the palm nuts h… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: The tortoise was the last to arrive, and when he saw the palm nuts he shouted out, “Hallo, python, I am hungry, may I have some of your fruit?” Who acts: tortoise, Hallo. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxix.--why a Python Never Swallows a Tortoise., w
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxix.--why a Python Never Swallows a Tortoise., sentence 15

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The tortoise was the last to arrive, and when he saw the palm nuts he shouted out, “Hallo, python, I am hungry, may I have some of your fruit?”

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**Who acts:** tortoise, Hallo · **What happens:** be, arrive, see, shout out, have · **To what, where:** palm nuts, some · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxix.--why a Python Never Swallows a Tortoise.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (tortoise, Hallo), 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:pg70959:22:15
# text = The tortoise was the last to arrive, and when he saw the palm nuts he shouted out, “Hallo, python, I am hungry, may I have some of your fruit?”
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	tortoise	tortoise	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	arrive	arrive	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
10	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	12	advmod	_	_
11	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	advcl	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
14	palm	palm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	compound	_	_
15	nuts	nut	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	obj	_	_
16	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
17	shouted	shout	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
18	out	out	ADP	RP	_	17	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
20	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	21	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	Hallo	Hallo	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	31	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
23	python	python	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
25	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
26	am	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	27	cop	_	_
27	hungry	hungry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
29	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	31	aux	_	_
30	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
31	have	have	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	ccomp	_	_
32	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	31	obj	_	_
33	of	of	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
34	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	35	nmod:poss	_	_
35	fruit	fruit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the tortoise |  |  |  |  | last *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **arrive** | to-infinitive | the tortoise *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **see** | past | tortoise | the palm nuts |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer nut=Stimulus |
| 4 | **shout out** *speech: express* | past | tortoise |  |  |  |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 5 | **is** *in a quote* | present | tortoise |  |  |  |  | hungry *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **have** *in a quote* | may | Hallo | some of your fruit |  |  |  | I *nsubj* | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent some=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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