Legends of the Northwest, The Feast of the Virgins., part 5, sentence 69
The brave, jolly boatman,--he never is afraid When he meets at the portage a red, forest maid, A Huron, or a Cree, or a blooming Chippeway; And he marks his trail with the _bois brulès_.
Who acts: Merry · What happens: not be, meet, bloom, mark · To what, where: red forest maid, portage, trail, brave jolly boatman
This is a sentence of «Legends of the Northwest» by Hanford Lennox Gordon, The Feast of the Virgins., part 5. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Merry), 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 | 5 boatman | det |
| 2 | brave | brave | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 5 boatman | amod |
| 3 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 2 brave | punct |
| 4 | jolly | jolly | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 5 boatman | amod |
| 5 | boatman | boatman | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 6 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 11 afraid | punct |
| 7 | -- | -- | PUNCT | _ | 11 afraid | punct |
| 8 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 11 afraid | nsubj |
| 9 | never | never | ADV | PronType=Neg | 11 afraid | advmod |
| 10 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 11 afraid | cop |
| 11 | afraid | afraid | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 5 boatman | amod |
| 12 | When | when | SCONJ | _ | 14 meets | mark |
| 13 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 14 meets | nsubj |
| 14 | meets | meet | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 11 afraid | advcl |
| 15 | at | at | ADP | _ | 17 portage | case |
| 16 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 17 portage | det |
| 17 | portage | portage | NOUN | Number=Sing | 14 meets | obl |
| 18 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 22 maid | det |
| 19 | red | red | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 22 maid | amod |
| 20 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 19 red | punct |
| 21 | forest | forest | NOUN | Number=Sing | 22 maid | compound |
| 22 | maid | maid | NOUN | Number=Sing | 14 meets | obj |
| 23 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 25 Huron | punct |
| 24 | A | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 25 Huron | det |
| 25 | Huron | Huron | PROPN | Number=Sing | 22 maid | appos |
| 26 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 29 Cree | punct |
| 27 | or | or | CCONJ | _ | 29 Cree | cc |
| 28 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 29 Cree | det |
| 29 | Cree | Cree | PROPN | Number=Sing | 11 afraid | obl |
| 30 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 34 Chippeway | punct |
| 31 | or | or | CCONJ | _ | 34 Chippeway | cc |
| 32 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 34 Chippeway | det |
| 33 | blooming | bloom | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 34 Chippeway | amod |
| 34 | Chippeway | chippeway | NOUN | Number=Sing | 29 Cree | appos |
| 35 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 38 marks | punct |
| 36 | And | and | CCONJ | _ | 38 marks | cc |
| 37 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 38 marks | nsubj |
| 38 | marks | mark | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 5 boatman | parataxis |
| 39 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 40 trail | nmod:poss |
| 40 | trail | trail | NOUN | Number=Sing | 38 marks | obj |
| 41 | with | with | ADP | _ | 45 brulès | case |
| 42 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 45 brulès | det |
| 43 | _ | _ | PUNCT | _ | 45 brulès | punct |
| 44 | bois | bois | NOUN | Number=Sing | 45 brulès | compound |
| 45 | brulès | brulè | NOUN | Number=Plur | 38 marks | obl |
| 46 | _ | _ | PUNCT | _ | 38 marks | punct |
| 47 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 5 boatman | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | not is | present | Merry | a Cree obl; afraid property | tree rules | ||||
| 2 | meet | present | Merry | a red forest maid | the portage | vn meet-36.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent maid=Co-Agent | |||
| 3 | bloom | gerund | vn entity_specific_modes_being-47.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||||
| 4 | mark | present | Merry | Merry's trail | with the bois brulès | vn image_impression-25.1 «NP V NP.destination PP.theme»: agent=Agent trail=Destination with brulè=Theme |
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: «Legends of the Northwest» by Hanford Lennox Gordon, Project Gutenberg book 8122 (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/pg8122/12/69/