Wigwam stories told by North American Indians, Meaning of Indian Totems and Names, sentence 24
In some tribes the little ones are named after the first object that is seen, as Buffalo Horn, White Pony, Lame Dog, and names that are sometimes better but more often seem to us not so good.
Who acts: names · What happens: name, see, be, seem · To what, where: little ones, tribes, first object, us
This is a sentence of «Wigwam stories told by North American Indians» by Mary Catherine Judd, Meaning of Indian Totems and Names. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (names), 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 | In | in | ADP | _ | 3 tribes | case |
| 2 | some | some | DET | PronType=Ind | 3 tribes | det |
| 3 | tribes | tribe | NOUN | Number=Plur | 8 named | obl |
| 4 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 6 ones | det |
| 5 | little | little | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 6 ones | amod |
| 6 | ones | one | NOUN | Number=Plur | 8 named | nsubj:pass |
| 7 | are | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 8 named | aux:pass |
| 8 | named | name | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 9 | after | after | ADP | _ | 12 object | case |
| 10 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 12 object | det |
| 11 | first | first | ADJ | Degree=Pos NumForm=Word NumType=Ord | 12 object | amod |
| 12 | object | object | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 named | obl |
| 13 | that | that | PRON | PronType=Rel | 15 seen | nsubj |
| 14 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 15 seen | aux:pass |
| 15 | seen | see | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 12 object | acl:relcl |
| 16 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 19 Horn | punct |
| 17 | as | as | ADP | _ | 19 Horn | case |
| 18 | Buffalo | Buffalo | PROPN | Number=Sing | 19 Horn | compound |
| 19 | Horn | Horn | PROPN | Number=Sing | 15 seen | obl |
| 20 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 22 Pony | punct |
| 21 | White | white | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 22 Pony | amod |
| 22 | Pony | Pony | PROPN | Number=Sing | 19 Horn | conj |
| 23 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 25 Dog | punct |
| 24 | Lame | Lame | PROPN | Number=Sing | 25 Dog | compound |
| 25 | Dog | Dog | PROPN | Number=Sing | 19 Horn | conj |
| 26 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 28 names | punct |
| 27 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 28 names | cc |
| 28 | names | name | NOUN | Number=Plur | 8 named | obl |
| 29 | that | that | PRON | PronType=Rel | 32 better | nsubj |
| 30 | are | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 32 better | cop |
| 31 | sometimes | sometimes | ADV | PronType=Ind | 32 better | advmod |
| 32 | better | good | ADJ | Degree=Cmp | 28 names | acl:relcl |
| 33 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 36 seem | cc |
| 34 | more | more | ADV | Degree=Cmp | 35 often | advmod |
| 35 | often | often | ADV | _ | 36 seem | advmod |
| 36 | seem | seem | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 8 named | conj |
| 37 | to | to | ADP | _ | 38 us | case |
| 38 | us | we | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=1 PronType=Prs | 36 seem | obl |
| 39 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 41 good | advmod |
| 40 | so | so | ADV | _ | 41 good | advmod |
| 41 | good | good | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 36 seem | xcomp |
| 42 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 8 named | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | name | present · passive | the little ones | some tribes | after the first object | names obl | vn appoint-29.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme | ||
| 2 | see | present · passive | the first object | as Buffalo Horn and White Pony and Lame Dog | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: subject=Stimulus as horn=Attribute | ||||
| 3 | is | present | names | good, sometimes property | tree rules | ||||
| 4 | seem | present | us | good, often property | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S_INF»: agent=Theme |
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: «Wigwam stories told by North American Indians» by Mary Catherine Judd, Project Gutenberg book 73136 (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/pg73136/14/24/