---
title: The grasshopper said he was called Dabi, and introduced his friend a… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: The grasshopper said he was called Dabi, and introduced his friend as “Stranger.” Who acts: grasshopper. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Vii.--how Two Friends Fell Out: the Spider and the Grasshopper., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of eve
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Vii.--how Two Friends Fell Out: the Spider and the Grasshopper., sentence 8

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The grasshopper said he was called Dabi, and introduced his friend as “Stranger.”

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**Who acts:** grasshopper · **What happens:** say, call, introduce · **To what, where:** grasshopper, friend · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Vii.--how Two Friends Fell Out: the Spider and the Grasshopper.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (grasshopper), 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:pg70959:6:8
# text = The grasshopper said he was called Dabi, and introduced his friend as “Stranger.”
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	grasshopper	grasshopper	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
5	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux:pass	_	_
6	called	call	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	ccomp	_	_
7	Dabi	Dabi	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	introduced	introduce	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
11	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	12	nmod:poss	_	_
12	friend	friend	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	_
13	as	as	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	15	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	Stranger	stranger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the grasshopper |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **call** | past · passive |  | grasshopper |  |  |  | Dabi *xcomp* | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: subject=Recipient |
| 3 | **introduce** | past |  | grasshopper's friend |  |  |  | as Stranger | vn amalgamate-22.2-3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent friend=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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