---
title: He then called out softly, because he was afraid of waking the torto… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: He then called out softly, because he was afraid of waking the tortoise, “Let me go! Who acts: tortoise. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Ii.--the Cunning Hare; Or, Why the Tortoise Has a Patched Shell., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of ev
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Ii.--the Cunning Hare; Or, Why the Tortoise Has a Patched Shell., sentence 50

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He then called out softly, because he was afraid of waking the tortoise, “Let me go!

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**Who acts:** tortoise · **What happens:** call out, be, wake, let, go · **To what, where:** tortoise · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Ii.--the Cunning Hare; Or, Why the Tortoise Has a Patched Shell.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (tortoise), 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:pg70959:4:50
# text = He then called out softly, because he was afraid of waking the tortoise, “Let me go!
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	3	advmod	_	_
3	called	call	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	out	out	ADP	RP	_	3	compound:prt	_	_
5	softly	softly	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
7	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
8	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
9	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	cop	_	_
10	afraid	afraid	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	parataxis	_	_
11	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
12	waking	wake	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	10	advcl	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	tortoise	tortoise	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
16	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	17	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	Let	let	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	conj	_	_
18	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	17	obj	_	_
19	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **call out** *speech: express* | past | tortoise |  |  |  | then | softly *property* | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is** | past | tortoise |  |  |  |  | afraid *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **wake** | gerund | tortoise *not said here* | the tortoise |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent tortoise=Patient |
| 4 | **let** *in a quote* | infinitive | tortoise *not said here* | tortoise |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **go** *in a quote* | infinitive | tortoise *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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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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