The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian Stories, The Blindness of Pi-waṕ-ōk, sentence 109
“Alas,” said the whitehead when he had finished, “what you ask is beyond my power; nor could my husband, who is away hunting, help you.
Who acts: Alas, Pi, you, husband · What happens: say, finish, ask, be, help · To what, where: whitehead, power, you · Speech: someone speaks here
This is a sentence of «The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian Stories» by George Bird Grinnell, The Blindness of Pi-waṕ-ōk. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Alas, Pi, you, husband), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.
Mova's own parse. This tree may be wrong.
The tree
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | “ | " | PUNCT | _ | 2 Alas | punct |
| 2 | Alas | ala | NOUN | Number=Plur | 5 said | nsubj |
| 3 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 2 Alas | punct |
| 4 | ” | " | PUNCT | _ | 2 Alas | punct |
| 5 | said | say | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 6 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 7 whitehead | det |
| 7 | whitehead | whitehead | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 said | obj |
| 8 | when | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 11 finished | advmod |
| 9 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 11 finished | nsubj |
| 10 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 11 finished | aux |
| 11 | finished | finish | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 5 said | advcl |
| 12 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 20 power | punct |
| 13 | “ | " | PUNCT | _ | 20 power | punct |
| 14 | what | what | PRON | PronType=Int | 16 ask | obj |
| 15 | you | you | PRON | Case=Nom Person=2 PronType=Prs | 16 ask | nsubj |
| 16 | ask | ask | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=2 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 20 power | csubj |
| 17 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 20 power | cop |
| 18 | beyond | beyond | ADP | _ | 20 power | case |
| 19 | my | my | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Sing Person=1 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 20 power | nmod:poss |
| 20 | power | power | NOUN | Number=Sing | 11 finished | obl |
| 21 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 23 could | punct |
| 22 | nor | nor | CCONJ | Polarity=Neg | 23 could | cc |
| 23 | could | could | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 5 said | ccomp |
| 24 | my | my | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Sing Person=1 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 25 husband | nmod:poss |
| 25 | husband | husband | NOUN | Number=Sing | 23 could | nsubj |
| 26 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 29 away | punct |
| 27 | who | who | PRON | PronType=Rel | 29 away | nsubj |
| 28 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 29 away | cop |
| 29 | away | away | ADV | _ | 25 husband | acl |
| 30 | hunting | hunting | NOUN | Number=Sing | 29 away | nsubj |
| 31 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 32 help | punct |
| 32 | help | help | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 5 said | conj |
| 33 | you | you | PRON | Case=Acc Person=2 PronType=Prs | 32 help | obj |
| 34 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 5 said | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | say speech: assert | past | Alas | the whitehead | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent whitehead=Topic | ||||
| 2 | finish | past · perfect | Pi | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality | |||||
| 3 | ask speech: ask in a quote | present | you | my power | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent what=Recipient | ||||
| 4 | is in a quote | present | beyond my power; my nmod:poss | tree rules | |||||
| 5 | is in a quote | present | my husband | hunting nsubj; away property | tree rules | ||||
| 6 | help in a quote | present | Alas not said here | you | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent you=Beneficiary |
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.
Text: «The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian Stories» by George Bird Grinnell, Project Gutenberg book 66596 (public domain in the USA). Tree: Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. Frames: Mova's frames reader (prag), the chapter read in order.
This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66596/13/109/