Kulóskap the master, and other Algonkin poems, Opening, part 18, sentence 132
’Twas a man and his wife a-dancing About a tree; on its summit There sat a great Raccoon, And by their constant treading They had worn a trench in the ground-- Yea, in it, up to their waists.
Who acts: wife, Twas · What happens: dance, sit, wear · To what, where: great Raccoon, summit, trench, ground
This is a sentence of «Kulóskap the master, and other Algonkin poems», Opening, part 18. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (wife, Twas), 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 | ’ | ' | PUNCT | _ | 2 Twas | punct |
| 2 | Twas | twa | NOUN | Number=Plur | 19 sat | nsubj |
| 3 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 4 man | det |
| 4 | man | man | NOUN | Number=Sing | 2 Twas | appos |
| 5 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 7 wife | cc |
| 6 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 7 wife | nmod:poss |
| 7 | wife | wife | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 man | conj |
| 8 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 10 dancing | det |
| 9 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 10 dancing | punct |
| 10 | dancing | dance | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 7 wife | acl |
| 11 | About | about | ADP | _ | 13 tree | case |
| 12 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 13 tree | det |
| 13 | tree | tree | NOUN | Number=Sing | 10 dancing | obl |
| 14 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 19 sat | punct |
| 15 | on | on | ADP | _ | 17 summit | case |
| 16 | its | its | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 17 summit | nmod:poss |
| 17 | summit | summit | NOUN | Number=Sing | 19 sat | obl |
| 18 | There | there | PRON | PronType=Dem | 19 sat | expl |
| 19 | sat | sit | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 20 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 22 Raccoon | det |
| 21 | great | great | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 22 Raccoon | amod |
| 22 | Raccoon | raccoon | NOUN | Number=Sing | 19 sat | obj |
| 23 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 31 worn | punct |
| 24 | And | and | CCONJ | _ | 31 worn | cc |
| 25 | by | by | ADP | _ | 28 treading | case |
| 26 | their | their | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 28 treading | nmod:poss |
| 27 | constant | constant | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 28 treading | amod |
| 28 | treading | treading | NOUN | Number=Sing | 31 worn | obl |
| 29 | They | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 31 worn | nsubj |
| 30 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 31 worn | aux |
| 31 | worn | wear | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 19 sat | conj |
| 32 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 33 trench | det |
| 33 | trench | trench | NOUN | Number=Sing | 31 worn | obj |
| 34 | in | in | ADP | _ | 36 ground | case |
| 35 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 36 ground | det |
| 36 | ground | ground | NOUN | Number=Sing | 33 trench | nmod |
| 37 | -- | -- | PUNCT | _ | 38 Yea | punct |
| 38 | Yea | yea | INTJ | _ | 31 worn | discourse |
| 39 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 41 it | punct |
| 40 | in | in | ADP | _ | 41 it | case |
| 41 | it | it | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 31 worn | obl |
| 42 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 46 waists | punct |
| 43 | up | up | ADV | _ | 46 waists | advmod |
| 44 | to | to | ADP | _ | 46 waists | case |
| 45 | their | their | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 46 waists | nmod:poss |
| 46 | waists | waist | NOUN | Number=Plur | 31 worn | obl |
| 47 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 19 sat | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | dance | gerund | man's wife not said here | about a tree | vn modes_of_being_with_motion-47.3 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme about tree=Location | ||||
| 2 | sit | past | Twas | a great Raccoon | tree's summit; there | vn spatial_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V NP.theme PP»: agent=Agent raccoon=Theme on summit=Location | |||
| 3 | wear | past · perfect | Twas = twa | a trench | the ground | by Twas's constant treading; in ground; to Twas's waists | vn wipe_manner-10.4.1-1 «NP V NP.source»: agent=Agent trench=Source |
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: «Kulóskap the master, and other Algonkin poems», Project Gutenberg book 78673 (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/pg78673/18/132/