---
title: In 1905, Charles Basset wrote in his doctoral thesis that Malagasika… — Madagascar · tree and pragmatics
description: In 1905, Charles Basset wrote in his doctoral thesis that Malagasikara was the way the island was referred to by its natives, who emphasized that they were Malagasy, and not Madagasy. Who acts: Charles Basset, natives, Malagasikara. A sentence of Wikipedia's «Madagascar» with its dependency tree and
---

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# Madagascar, sentence 45

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From Wikipedia, [«Madagascar»](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madagascar), revision of the 2026-09-01 dump, [CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). The trees and pragmatics of these pages, Mova's parse of that text, are CC BY-SA 4.0 too.

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In 1905, Charles Basset wrote in his doctoral thesis that Malagasikara was the way the island was referred to by its natives, who emphasized that they were Malagasy, and not Madagasy.

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**Who acts:** Charles Basset, natives, Malagasikara · **What happens:** write, refer, emphasize, be · **To what, where:** Madagasy, 1905, Malagasikara, Malagasy

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This is a sentence of the English Wikipedia article «Madagascar». The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Charles Basset, natives, Malagasikara), 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 article's note marks are left out of the parse.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = wikipedia:Madagascar:45
# text = In 1905, Charles Basset wrote in his doctoral thesis that Malagasikara was the way the island was referred to by its natives, who emphasized that they were Malagasy, and not Madagasy.
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	1905	1905	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
4	Charles	Charles	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	_
5	Basset	basset	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	wrote	write	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
8	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	10	nmod:poss	_	_
9	doctoral	doctoral	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	thesis	thesis	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
11	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	19	obj	_	_
12	Malagasikara	Malagasikara	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	19	nsubj:pass	_	_
13	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	aux:pass	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl:unmarked	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	island	island	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nsubj:pass	_	_
18	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	aux:pass	_	_
19	referred	refer	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	10	acl:relcl	_	_
20	to	to	ADP	IN	_	19	obl	_	_
21	by	by	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	23	nmod:poss	_	_
23	natives	native	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
25	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	26	nsubj	_	_
26	emphasized	emphasize	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	acl:relcl	_	_
27	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	30	mark	_	_
28	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
29	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	30	cop	_	_
30	Malagasy	Malagasy	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
32	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
33	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	34	advmod	_	_
34	Madagasy	Madagasy	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **write** | past | Charles Basset | Madagasy |  | 1905 |  | in Basset's doctoral thesis | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent in 1905=Destination |
| 2 | **refer** | past · passive | island's natives | Malagasikara |  |  |  | the way *obl:unmarked*; Basset's doctoral thesis *obj*; the island *nsubj:pass* | tree rules |
| 3 | **emphasize** | past | island's natives |  |  |  |  |  | vn promote-102 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **is a** | past | Malagasikara | Malagasy |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

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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:** the English Wikipedia, «Madagascar», revision of the 2026-09-01 dump, CC BY-SA 4.0. **Tree:** Mova's own parse, CC BY-SA 4.0 as the text is. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), the article read in order, CC BY-SA 4.0.

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