Legends of the Northwest, In the Measure of Hiawatha, part 3, sentence 51

Each feather worn by a warrior represents an enemy slain or captured--man, woman or child; but the Dakotas, before they became desperate under the cruel warfare of their enemies, generally spared the lives of their captives, and never killed women or infants, except in rare instances, under the _lex talionis_.

Who acts: feather, feathers · What happens: wear, represent, slay, capture, become, spare · To what, where: feather, enemy, Dakotas, lives, women

This is a sentence of «Legends of the Northwest» by Hanford Lennox Gordon, In the Measure of Hiawatha, part 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (feather, feathers), 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	Each	each	DET	PronType=Tot	2 feather	det
2	feather	feather	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 represents	nsubj
3	worn	wear	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 feather	acl
4	by	by	ADP	_	6 warrior	case
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 warrior	det
6	warrior	warrior	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 worn	obl
7	represents	represent	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
8	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 enemy	det
9	enemy	enemy	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 represents	obj
10	slain	slay	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	9 enemy	acl
11	or	or	CCONJ	_	12 captured	cc
12	captured	capture	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	10 slain	conj
13	--	--	PUNCT	_	14 man	punct
14	man	man	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 enemy	conj
15	,	,	PUNCT	_	16 woman	punct
16	woman	woman	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 enemy	appos
17	or	or	CCONJ	_	18 child	cc
18	child	child	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 woman	conj
19	;	;	PUNCT	_	22 Dakotas	punct
20	but	but	CCONJ	_	22 Dakotas	cc
21	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	22 Dakotas	det
22	Dakotas	Dakotas	PROPN	Number=Sing	7 represents	obl
23	,	,	PUNCT	_	26 became	punct
24	before	before	SCONJ	_	26 became	mark
25	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	26 became	nsubj
26	became	become	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	22 Dakotas	acl:relcl
27	desperate	desperate	ADJ	Degree=Pos	26 became	xcomp
28	under	under	ADP	_	31 warfare	case
29	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	31 warfare	det
30	cruel	cruel	ADJ	Degree=Pos	31 warfare	amod
31	warfare	warfare	NOUN	Number=Sing	27 desperate	obl
32	of	of	ADP	_	34 enemies	case
33	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	34 enemies	nmod:poss
34	enemies	enemy	NOUN	Number=Plur	31 warfare	nmod
35	,	,	PUNCT	_	37 spared	punct
36	generally	generally	ADV	_	37 spared	advmod
37	spared	spare	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	26 became	conj
38	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	39 lives	det
39	lives	life	NOUN	Number=Plur	37 spared	obj
40	of	of	ADP	_	42 captives	case
41	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	42 captives	nmod:poss
42	captives	captive	NOUN	Number=Plur	39 lives	nmod
43	,	,	PUNCT	_	46 killed	punct
44	and	and	CCONJ	_	46 killed	cc
45	never	never	ADV	PronType=Neg	46 killed	advmod
46	killed	kill	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	37 spared	conj
47	women	woman	NOUN	Number=Plur	46 killed	obj
48	or	or	CCONJ	_	49 infants	cc
49	infants	infant	NOUN	Number=Plur	47 women	conj
50	,	,	PUNCT	_	54 instances	punct
51	except	except	ADP	_	54 instances	case
52	in	in	ADP	_	54 instances	case
53	rare	rare	ADJ	Degree=Pos	54 instances	amod
54	instances	instance	NOUN	Number=Plur	46 killed	obl
55	,	,	PUNCT	_	60 talionis	punct
56	under	under	ADP	_	60 talionis	case
57	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	60 talionis	det
58	_	_	ADJ	Degree=Pos	60 talionis	amod
59	lex	lex	NOUN	Number=Sing	60 talionis	compound
60	talionis	talionis	NOUN	Number=Sing	54 instances	conj
61	_	_	PUNCT	_	54 instances	punct
62	.	.	PUNCT	_	7 represents	punct

Pragmatics

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	wear	participle		each feather not said here	by a warrior	vn wipe_manner-10.4.1-1 «NP V PP-Conative»: agent=Agent
2	represent	present	each feather	a enemy and man	the Dakotas obl	vn representation-110.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot enemy=Theme
3	slay	participle		a enemy and man not said here		vn murder-42.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
4	capture	participle				vn steal-10.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
5	become	past	feathers = feather	the Dakotas not said here	desperate property	vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Patient dakotas=Result
6	spare	past	feathers = feather not said here	the lives of feathers's captives	generally property	vn bill-54.5 «NP V NP NP.asset»: agent=Agent life=Asset
7	not kill	past	feathers = feather not said here	women or infants	except rare instances and the _ lex talionis	vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent woman=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/pg8122/20/51/

🌲 Legends of the Northwest, In the Measure of Hiawatha, part 3, sentence 51

The tree

Pragmatics

Legends of the Northwest, In the Measure of Hiawatha, part 3, sentence 51