Ojibwa myths and tales, Thunderbirds. (no. 2.), sentence 26
She said, “A good many years ago my husband had a dream ‘never to walk across the ice of any lake’ and he may have tried to go across some lake at night and was taken by some big bird (Thunderbird) or somebody I never heard of.
Who acts: wife, husband, big bird · What happens: say, have, not walk, try, go, take · To what, where: dream, ice, lake · Speech: someone speaks here
This is a sentence of «Ojibwa myths and tales» by Geo. E. Laidlaw, Thunderbirds. (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 (wife, husband, big bird), 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 | She | she | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 2 said | nsubj |
| 2 | said | say | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 3 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 12 had | punct |
| 4 | “ | " | PUNCT | _ | 12 had | punct |
| 5 | A | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 8 years | det |
| 6 | good | good | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 8 years | amod |
| 7 | many | many | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 8 years | amod |
| 8 | years | year | NOUN | Number=Plur | 9 ago | obl:unmarked |
| 9 | ago | ago | ADV | _ | 12 had | advmod |
| 10 | my | my | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Sing Person=1 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 11 husband | nmod:poss |
| 11 | husband | husband | NOUN | Number=Sing | 12 had | nsubj |
| 12 | had | have | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 2 said | ccomp |
| 13 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 14 dream | det |
| 14 | dream | dream | NOUN | Number=Sing | 12 had | obj |
| 15 | ‘ | ' | PUNCT | _ | 18 walk | punct |
| 16 | never | never | ADV | PronType=Neg | 18 walk | advmod |
| 17 | to | to | PART | _ | 18 walk | mark |
| 18 | walk | walk | VERB | Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin | 12 had | parataxis |
| 19 | across | across | ADP | _ | 21 ice | case |
| 20 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 21 ice | det |
| 21 | ice | ice | NOUN | Number=Sing | 18 walk | obl |
| 22 | of | of | ADP | _ | 24 lake | case |
| 23 | any | any | DET | PronType=Ind | 24 lake | det |
| 24 | lake | lake | NOUN | Number=Sing | 21 ice | nmod |
| 25 | ’ | ' | PUNCT | _ | 18 walk | punct |
| 26 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 30 tried | cc |
| 27 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 30 tried | nsubj |
| 28 | may | may | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 30 tried | aux |
| 29 | have | have | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 30 tried | aux |
| 30 | tried | try | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 2 said | conj |
| 31 | to | to | PART | _ | 32 go | mark |
| 32 | go | go | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 30 tried | xcomp |
| 33 | across | across | ADP | _ | 35 lake | case |
| 34 | some | some | DET | PronType=Ind | 35 lake | det |
| 35 | lake | lake | NOUN | Number=Sing | 32 go | obl |
| 36 | at | at | ADP | _ | 37 night | case |
| 37 | night | night | NOUN | Number=Sing | 32 go | obl |
| 38 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 40 taken | cc |
| 39 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 40 taken | aux:pass |
| 40 | taken | take | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 30 tried | conj |
| 41 | by | by | ADP | _ | 44 bird | case |
| 42 | some | some | DET | PronType=Ind | 44 bird | det |
| 43 | big | big | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 44 bird | amod |
| 44 | bird | bird | NOUN | Number=Sing | 40 taken | obl |
| 45 | ( | ( | PUNCT | _ | 46 Thunderbird | punct |
| 46 | Thunderbird | thunderbird | NOUN | Number=Sing | 44 bird | appos |
| 47 | ) | ) | PUNCT | _ | 46 Thunderbird | punct |
| 48 | or | or | CCONJ | _ | 49 somebody | cc |
| 49 | somebody | somebody | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Ind | 44 bird | conj |
| 50 | I | I | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 52 heard | nsubj |
| 51 | never | never | ADV | PronType=Neg | 52 heard | advmod |
| 52 | heard | hear | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 49 somebody | acl:relcl |
| 53 | of | of | ADP | _ | 52 heard | obl |
| 54 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 2 said | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | say speech: assert | past | wife | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | |||||
| 2 | have in a quote | past | my husband | a dream | ago property | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent dream=Patient | |||
| 3 | not walk in a quote | to-infinitive | the ice of any lake | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme across ice=Trajectory | |||||
| 4 | try in a quote | may · perfect | husband | vn try-61.1 «NP V S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality | |||||
| 5 | go not said to happen, in a quote | to-infinitive | husband not said here | some lake | night | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme across lake=Initial_Location | |||
| 6 | take in a quote | past · passive | some big bird somebody | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 7 | not hear in a quote | past | wife | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V PP.stimulus»: 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/pg76755/5/26/