Ojibwa myths and tales, Nanabush and the Ducks. (no. 2.), sentence 13
May have been an axe or a knife, etc.” This is very indefinite, but is just what York explained, that it was difficult to understand.
Who acts: axe, York · What happens: be, explain, understand · To what, where: axe
This is a sentence of «Ojibwa myths and tales» by Geo. E. Laidlaw, Nanabush and the Ducks. (no. 2.). The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (axe, York), 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 | May | may | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 5 axe | aux |
| 2 | have | have | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 5 axe | aux |
| 3 | been | be | AUX | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 5 axe | cop |
| 4 | an | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 5 axe | det |
| 5 | axe | axe | NOUN | Number=Sing | 15 indefinite | nsubj |
| 6 | or | or | CCONJ | _ | 8 knife | cc |
| 7 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 8 knife | det |
| 8 | knife | knife | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 axe | conj |
| 9 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 10 etc. | punct |
| 10 | etc. | etc. | NOUN | Abbr=Yes Number=Plur | 8 knife | conj |
| 11 | ” | " | PUNCT | _ | 8 knife | punct |
| 12 | This | this | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 15 indefinite | nsubj |
| 13 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 15 indefinite | cop |
| 14 | very | very | ADV | _ | 15 indefinite | advmod |
| 15 | indefinite | indefinite | ADJ | Degree=Pos | root | root |
| 16 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 20 what | punct |
| 17 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 20 what | cc |
| 18 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 20 what | cop |
| 19 | just | just | ADV | _ | 20 what | advmod |
| 20 | what | what | PRON | PronType=Int | 15 indefinite | parataxis |
| 21 | York | York | PROPN | Number=Sing | 22 explained | nsubj |
| 22 | explained | explain | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 20 what | acl:relcl |
| 23 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 27 difficult | punct |
| 24 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 27 difficult | mark |
| 25 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 27 difficult | expl |
| 26 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 27 difficult | cop |
| 27 | difficult | difficult | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 15 indefinite | conj |
| 28 | to | to | PART | _ | 29 understand | mark |
| 29 | understand | understand | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 27 difficult | xcomp |
| 30 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 15 indefinite | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is a | may · perfect | a axe or a knife and etc. | a knife and etc. conj | tree rules | ||||
| 2 | is in a quote | present | a axe or a knife and etc. | This nsubj; indefinite property | tree rules | ||||
| 3 | is a in a quote | present | tree rules | ||||||
| 4 | explain speech: assert in a quote | past | York | vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 5 | is in a quote | past | a axe or a knife and etc. not said here | difficult property | tree rules | ||||
| 6 | understand in a quote | to-infinitive | a axe or a knife and etc. not said here | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
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/pg76755/3/13/