The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian Stories, Little Friend Coyote, sentence 9
One summer, only two or three days after his return from a successful war-journey against the Crows, he said to his wife: “It is a long time since I have seen my parents.
Who acts: Wolf, journey · What happens: say, be, see, return · To what, where: wife, long time, parents, successful war journey · Speech: someone speaks here
This is a sentence of «The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian Stories» by George Bird Grinnell, Little Friend Coyote. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Wolf, journey), 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 | One | one | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 2 summer | nummod |
| 2 | summer | summer | NOUN | Number=Sing | 23 said | obl:unmarked |
| 3 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 8 days | punct |
| 4 | only | only | ADV | _ | 8 days | advmod |
| 5 | two | two | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 8 days | nummod |
| 6 | or | or | CCONJ | _ | 7 three | cc |
| 7 | three | three | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 5 two | conj |
| 8 | days | day | NOUN | Number=Plur | 2 summer | appos |
| 9 | after | after | ADP | _ | 11 return | case |
| 10 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 11 return | nmod:poss |
| 11 | return | return | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 days | nmod |
| 12 | from | from | ADP | _ | 17 journey | case |
| 13 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 17 journey | det |
| 14 | successful | successful | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 17 journey | amod |
| 15 | war | war | NOUN | Number=Sing | 17 journey | compound |
| 16 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 15 war | punct |
| 17 | journey | journey | NOUN | Number=Sing | 11 return | nmod |
| 18 | against | against | ADP | _ | 20 Crows | case |
| 19 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 20 Crows | det |
| 20 | Crows | crow | NOUN | Number=Plur | 17 journey | nmod |
| 21 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 2 summer | punct |
| 22 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 23 said | nsubj |
| 23 | said | say | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 24 | to | to | ADP | _ | 26 wife | case |
| 25 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 26 wife | nmod:poss |
| 26 | wife | wife | NOUN | Number=Sing | 23 said | obl |
| 27 | : | : | PUNCT | _ | 33 time | punct |
| 28 | “ | " | PUNCT | _ | 33 time | punct |
| 29 | It | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 33 time | nsubj |
| 30 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 33 time | cop |
| 31 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 33 time | det |
| 32 | long | long | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 33 time | amod |
| 33 | time | time | NOUN | Number=Sing | 23 said | obl |
| 34 | since | since | SCONJ | _ | 37 seen | mark |
| 35 | I | I | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 37 seen | nsubj |
| 36 | have | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 37 seen | aux |
| 37 | seen | see | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 33 time | acl:relcl |
| 38 | my | my | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Sing Person=1 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 39 parents | nmod:poss |
| 39 | parents | parent | NOUN | Number=Plur | 37 seen | obj |
| 40 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 23 said | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | say speech: assert | past | Wolf | Wolf's wife | summer | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to wife=Recipient | |||
| 2 | is a in a quote | present | journey | a long time | tree rules | ||||
| 3 | see in a quote | present · perfect | Wolf | my parents | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer parent=Stimulus | ||||
| 4 | return | Wolf | a successful war journey against the Crows | nom return «communication intransitive»: poss=agent from=place |
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/pg66596/18/9/