Wigwam stories told by North American Indians, XXXIX. Legend of the Wampum-bird and the Boy, sentence 2
An Indian was alone in the thick woods when he heard a strange sound, and looking sharply through the branches and leaves saw a large bird.
Who acts: Indian, he, looking · What happens: be, hear, look, see · To what, where: thick woods, strange sound, large bird · Speech: someone speaks here
This is a sentence of «Wigwam stories told by North American Indians» by Mary Catherine Judd, XXXIX. Legend of the Wampum-bird and the Boy. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Indian, he, looking), 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 | An | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 2 Indian | det |
| 2 | Indian | Indian | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 4 alone | nsubj |
| 3 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 4 alone | cop |
| 4 | alone | alone | ADJ | Degree=Pos | root | root |
| 5 | in | in | ADP | _ | 8 woods | case |
| 6 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 8 woods | det |
| 7 | thick | thick | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 8 woods | amod |
| 8 | woods | wood | NOUN | Number=Plur | 4 alone | obl |
| 9 | when | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 11 heard | advmod |
| 10 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 11 heard | nsubj |
| 11 | heard | hear | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 4 alone | parataxis |
| 12 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 14 sound | det |
| 13 | strange | strange | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 14 sound | amod |
| 14 | sound | sound | NOUN | Number=Sing | 11 heard | obj |
| 15 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 24 saw | punct |
| 16 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 24 saw | cc |
| 17 | looking | look | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 24 saw | csubj |
| 18 | sharply | sharply | ADV | _ | 17 looking | advmod |
| 19 | through | through | ADP | _ | 21 branches | case |
| 20 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 21 branches | det |
| 21 | branches | branch | NOUN | Number=Plur | 17 looking | obl |
| 22 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 23 leaves | cc |
| 23 | leaves | leaf | NOUN | Number=Plur | 21 branches | conj |
| 24 | saw | see | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 11 heard | conj |
| 25 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 27 bird | det |
| 26 | large | large | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 27 bird | amod |
| 27 | bird | bird | NOUN | Number=Sing | 24 saw | obj |
| 28 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 4 alone | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is | past | a Indian | the thick woods | alone property | tree rules | |||
| 2 | hear | past | he | a strange sound | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer sound=Stimulus | ||||
| 3 | look | gerund | through the branches and leaves; sharply property | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent through branch=Theme | |||||
| 4 | see | past | looking | a large bird | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer bird=Stimulus |
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/pg73136/64/2/