The man who married the moon, and other Pueblo Indian folk-stories, The Magic Hide-and-seek, sentence 8
It is not intended as an impolite remark, but merely refers to the firm belief of these quaint people that if one were to act like a stubborn donkey, and refuse to tell a story when called on, a donkey’s tail would grow upon him!
Who acts: one, tail · What happens: not intend, refer, act, refuse, not tell, call on · To what, where: cá, story, quaint people · Speech: someone speaks here
This is a sentence of «The man who married the moon, and other Pueblo Indian folk-stories» by Charles Fletcher Lummis, The Magic Hide-and-seek. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (one, tail), 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 | It | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 4 intended | nsubj:pass |
| 2 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 4 intended | aux:pass |
| 3 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 4 intended | advmod |
| 4 | intended | intend | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 5 | as | as | ADP | _ | 8 remark | case |
| 6 | an | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 8 remark | det |
| 7 | impolite | impolite | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 8 remark | amod |
| 8 | remark | remark | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 intended | obl |
| 9 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 12 refers | punct |
| 10 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 12 refers | cc |
| 11 | merely | merely | ADV | _ | 12 refers | advmod |
| 12 | refers | refer | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 4 intended | conj |
| 13 | to | to | ADP | _ | 16 belief | case |
| 14 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 16 belief | det |
| 15 | firm | firm | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 16 belief | amod |
| 16 | belief | belief | NOUN | Number=Sing | 12 refers | obl |
| 17 | of | of | ADP | _ | 20 people | case |
| 18 | these | this | DET | Number=Plur PronType=Dem | 20 people | det |
| 19 | quaint | quaint | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 20 people | amod |
| 20 | people | people | NOUN | Number=Plur | 16 belief | nmod |
| 21 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 26 act | mark |
| 22 | if | if | SCONJ | _ | 26 act | mark |
| 23 | one | one | PRON | Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 26 act | nsubj |
| 24 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 26 act | aux |
| 25 | to | to | PART | _ | 26 act | mark |
| 26 | act | act | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 12 refers | advcl |
| 27 | like | like | ADP | _ | 30 donkey | case |
| 28 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 30 donkey | det |
| 29 | stubborn | stubborn | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 30 donkey | amod |
| 30 | donkey | donkey | NOUN | Number=Sing | 26 act | obl |
| 31 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 33 refuse | punct |
| 32 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 33 refuse | cc |
| 33 | refuse | refuse | VERB | Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin | 4 intended | parataxis |
| 34 | to | to | PART | _ | 35 tell | mark |
| 35 | tell | tell | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 33 refuse | xcomp |
| 36 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 37 story | det |
| 37 | story | story | NOUN | Number=Sing | 35 tell | obj |
| 38 | when | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 39 called | advmod |
| 39 | called | call | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 35 tell | advcl |
| 40 | on | on | ADP | _ | 39 called | compound:prt |
| 41 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 47 grow | punct |
| 42 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 43 donkey | det |
| 43 | donkey | donkey | NOUN | Number=Sing | 45 tail | nmod:poss |
| 44 | ’s | 's | PART | _ | 43 donkey | case |
| 45 | tail | tail | NOUN | Number=Sing | 47 grow | nsubj |
| 46 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 47 grow | aux |
| 47 | grow | grow | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 33 refuse | conj |
| 48 | upon | upon | ADP | _ | 49 him | case |
| 49 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 47 grow | obl |
| 50 | ! | ! | PUNCT | _ | 4 intended | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | not intend | present · passive | cá | as a impolite remark | vn intend-61.2-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: subject=Topic as remark=Attribute | ||||
| 2 | refer | present | to the firm belief of this quaint people; merely property | vn relate-86.2-2 «NP V PP.co-theme»: agent=Theme to belief=Co-Theme | |||||
| 3 | act a condition, not said to happen | past | one | like a stubborn donkey | vn masquerade-29.6-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Agent like donkey=Attribute | ||||
| 4 | refuse | infinitive | vn reject-77.2 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Theme | ||||||
| 5 | not tell speech: assert | to-infinitive | a story | vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent story=Recipient | |||||
| 6 | call on speech: assert | participle | vn urge-58.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | ||||||
| 7 | grow | would | a donkey's tail | upon story | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme upon he=Location | ||||
| 8 | believe | this quaint people | nom belief «cognition transitive»: of=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: «The man who married the moon, and other Pueblo Indian folk-stories» by Charles Fletcher Lummis, Project Gutenberg book 77804 (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/pg77804/15/8/