Ojibwa myths and tales, John York’s Own Story., sentence 21
The first of these following tales was told to me some eight or ten years ago by Ben Simcoe, an elderly Indian from the Rama Reserve, Ontario County, near Lake Couchiching, and is probably a modern version of an older tale, as it introduces the negro and white man.
Who acts: Ben, first · What happens: follow, tell, be, introduce · To what, where: first, me, modern version, negro · Speech: someone speaks here
This is a sentence of «Ojibwa myths and tales» by Geo. E. Laidlaw, John York’s Own Story.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Ben, first), 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 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 2 first | det |
| 2 | first | first | NOUN | Number=Sing NumForm=Word NumType=Ord | 8 told | nsubj:pass |
| 3 | of | of | ADP | _ | 6 tales | case |
| 4 | these | this | DET | Number=Plur PronType=Dem | 6 tales | det |
| 5 | following | follow | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 6 tales | amod |
| 6 | tales | tale | NOUN | Number=Plur | 2 first | nmod |
| 7 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 8 told | aux:pass |
| 8 | told | tell | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 9 | to | to | ADP | _ | 10 me | case |
| 10 | me | I | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 8 told | obl |
| 11 | some | some | DET | PronType=Ind | 12 eight | advmod |
| 12 | eight | eight | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 15 years | nummod |
| 13 | or | or | CCONJ | _ | 14 ten | cc |
| 14 | ten | ten | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 12 eight | conj |
| 15 | years | year | NOUN | Number=Plur | 16 ago | obl:unmarked |
| 16 | ago | ago | ADV | _ | 8 told | advmod |
| 17 | by | by | ADP | _ | 18 Ben | case |
| 18 | Ben | Ben | PROPN | Number=Sing | 8 told | obl |
| 19 | Simcoe | Simcoe | PROPN | Number=Sing | 18 Ben | flat |
| 20 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 23 Indian | punct |
| 21 | an | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 23 Indian | det |
| 22 | elderly | elderly | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 23 Indian | amod |
| 23 | Indian | Indian | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 18 Ben | conj |
| 24 | from | from | ADP | _ | 27 Reserve | case |
| 25 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 27 Reserve | det |
| 26 | Rama | Rama | PROPN | Number=Sing | 27 Reserve | compound |
| 27 | Reserve | Reserve | PROPN | Number=Sing | 23 Indian | obl |
| 28 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 30 County | punct |
| 29 | Ontario | Ontario | PROPN | Number=Sing | 30 County | compound |
| 30 | County | County | PROPN | Number=Sing | 27 Reserve | conj |
| 31 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 34 Couchiching | punct |
| 32 | near | near | ADP | _ | 34 Couchiching | case |
| 33 | Lake | Lake | PROPN | Number=Sing | 34 Couchiching | compound |
| 34 | Couchiching | couchiching | NOUN | Number=Sing | 30 County | appos |
| 35 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 41 version | punct |
| 36 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 41 version | cc |
| 37 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 41 version | cop |
| 38 | probably | probably | ADV | _ | 41 version | advmod |
| 39 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 41 version | det |
| 40 | modern | modern | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 41 version | amod |
| 41 | version | version | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 told | obl |
| 42 | of | of | ADP | _ | 45 tale | case |
| 43 | an | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 45 tale | det |
| 44 | older | old | ADJ | Degree=Cmp | 45 tale | amod |
| 45 | tale | tale | NOUN | Number=Sing | 41 version | nmod |
| 46 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 49 introduces | punct |
| 47 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 49 introduces | mark |
| 48 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 49 introduces | nsubj |
| 49 | introduces | introduce | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 8 told | conj |
| 50 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 51 negro | det |
| 51 | negro | negro | NOUN | Number=Sing | 49 introduces | obj |
| 52 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 54 man | cc |
| 53 | white | white | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 54 man | amod |
| 54 | man | man | NOUN | Number=Sing | 51 negro | conj |
| 55 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 8 told | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | follow | gerund | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||||
| 2 | tell speech: assert | past · passive | Ben | the first of this following tales | me | ago property | vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent subject=Topic to i=Recipient | ||
| 3 | is a | present | a modern version | of a older tale; probably property | tree rules | ||||
| 4 | introduce | present | first | the negro and white man | vn amalgamate-22.2-3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent negro=Patient |
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: «Ojibwa myths and tales» by Geo. E. Laidlaw, Project Gutenberg book 76755 (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/pg76755/29/21/