---
title: This annoyed the tortoise so much that he stood up at the feast and… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: This annoyed the tortoise so much that he stood up at the feast and abused the python before all the people, saying that he did not work, and then came and eat a large quantity of the food which had been provided by the king for the people who made his farm and planted his yams. Who acts: This, anno
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxix.--why a Python Never Swallows a Tortoise., sentence 5

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This annoyed the tortoise so much that he stood up at the feast and abused the python before all the people, saying that he did not work, and then came and eat a large quantity of the food which had been provided by the king for the people who made his farm and planted his yams.

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**Who acts:** This, annoyed tortoise, python, king, people · **What happens:** tortoise, stand up, abuse, say, not work, come · **To what, where:** feast, python, large quantity, food, farm, yams · **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 (This, annoyed tortoise, python, king), 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:pg70959:22:5
# text = This annoyed the tortoise so much that he stood up at the feast and abused the python before all the people, saying that he did not work, and then came and eat a large quantity of the food which had been provided by the king for the people who made his farm and planted his yams.
1	This	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	4	nsubj	_	_
2	annoyed	annoyed	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	tortoise	tortoise	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
5	so	so	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	much	much	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
7	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
8	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
9	stood	stand	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
10	up	up	ADP	RP	_	9	compound:prt	_	_
11	at	at	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	feast	feast	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
15	abused	abuse	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	conj	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	python	python	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	_
18	before	before	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
19	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	21	det:predet	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
23	saying	say	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	15	advcl	_	_
24	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	28	mark	_	_
25	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
26	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	28	aux	_	_
27	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	28	advmod	_	_
28	work	work	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
30	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
31	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	32	advmod	_	_
32	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	parataxis	_	_
33	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
34	eat	eat	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	32	conj	_	_
35	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
36	large	large	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	37	amod	_	_
37	quantity	quantity	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obj	_	_
38	of	of	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
39	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
40	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	nmod	_	_
41	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	44	nsubj:pass	_	_
42	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	44	aux	_	_
43	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	44	aux:pass	_	_
44	provided	provide	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	40	acl:relcl	_	_
45	by	by	ADP	IN	_	47	case	_	_
46	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	47	det	_	_
47	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	44	obl	_	_
48	for	for	ADP	IN	_	50	case	_	_
49	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	50	det	_	_
50	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	44	obl	_	_
51	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	52	nsubj	_	_
52	made	make	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	50	acl:relcl	_	_
53	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	54	nmod:poss	_	_
54	farm	farm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	52	obj	_	_
55	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	56	cc	_	_
56	planted	plant	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	52	conj	_	_
57	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	58	nmod:poss	_	_
58	yams	yam	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	56	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
59	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tortoise** |  | This |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **stand up** | past | the annoyed tortoise |  |  | the feast |  | tortoise *nsubj* | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent at feast=Location |
| 3 | **abuse** | past | the annoyed tortoise *not said here* | the python |  |  | before all people |  | vn judgment-33.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent python=Theme |
| 4 | **say** *speech: assert* | gerund | the annoyed tortoise *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 5 | **not** **work** | past · do-support | python |  |  |  |  |  | vn employment-95.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **come** | past |  |  |  |  | then |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 7 | **eat** | present |  | a large quantity of the food |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent quantity=Patient |
| 8 | **provide** | past · perfect · passive | the king | the food |  |  |  | for the people | vn ensure-99 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: agent=Precondition subject=Theme for people=Beneficiary |
| 9 | **make** | past | the people | python's farm |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent farm=Product |
| 10 | **plant** | past | the people *not said here* | python's yams |  |  |  |  | vn establish-55.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent yam=Patient |

<!-- .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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