Legends of the Northwest, In the Measure of Hiawatha, part 4, sentence 11
[Footnote 52: The Dakotas believe in "were-wolves" as firmly as did our Saxon ancestors, and for similar reasons--the howl of the wolf being often imitated as a decoy or signal by their enemies, the Ojibways.]
Who acts: Dakotas, enemies, wolf · What happens: believe, be, do, imitate, howl · To what, where: wolves, Saxon ancestors, similar reasons, Footnote · Speech: someone speaks here
This is a sentence of «Legends of the Northwest» by Hanford Lennox Gordon, In the Measure of Hiawatha, part 4. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Dakotas, enemies, wolf), 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 Footnote | punct |
| 2 | Footnote | footnote | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 3 | 52 | 52 | NUM | NumForm=Digit NumType=Card | 2 Footnote | flat |
| 4 | : | : | PUNCT | _ | 7 believe | punct |
| 5 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 6 Dakotas | det |
| 6 | Dakotas | dakota | NOUN | Number=Plur | 7 believe | nsubj |
| 7 | believe | believe | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 2 Footnote | parataxis |
| 8 | in | in | ADP | _ | 12 wolves | case |
| 9 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 12 wolves | punct |
| 10 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 12 wolves | cop |
| 11 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 12 wolves | punct |
| 12 | wolves | wolf | NOUN | Number=Plur | 7 believe | obl |
| 13 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 12 wolves | punct |
| 14 | as | as | ADV | _ | 15 firmly | advmod |
| 15 | firmly | firmly | ADV | _ | 17 did | advmod |
| 16 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 17 did | mark |
| 17 | did | do | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 7 believe | advcl |
| 18 | our | our | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=1 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 20 ancestors | nmod:poss |
| 19 | Saxon | Saxon | PROPN | Number=Sing | 20 ancestors | compound |
| 20 | ancestors | ancestor | NOUN | Number=Plur | 17 did | obj |
| 21 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 25 reasons | punct |
| 22 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 25 reasons | cc |
| 23 | for | for | ADP | _ | 25 reasons | case |
| 24 | similar | similar | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 25 reasons | amod |
| 25 | reasons | reason | NOUN | Number=Plur | 7 believe | conj |
| 26 | -- | -- | PUNCT | _ | 28 howl | punct |
| 27 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 28 howl | det |
| 28 | howl | howl | NOUN | Number=Sing | 25 reasons | appos |
| 29 | of | of | ADP | _ | 31 wolf | case |
| 30 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 31 wolf | det |
| 31 | wolf | wolf | NOUN | Number=Sing | 28 howl | nmod |
| 32 | being | be | AUX | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 34 imitated | aux:pass |
| 33 | often | often | ADV | _ | 34 imitated | advmod |
| 34 | imitated | imitate | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 25 reasons | acl:relcl |
| 35 | as | as | ADP | _ | 37 decoy | case |
| 36 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 37 decoy | det |
| 37 | decoy | decoy | NOUN | Number=Sing | 34 imitated | obl |
| 38 | or | or | CCONJ | _ | 39 signal | cc |
| 39 | signal | signal | NOUN | Number=Sing | 37 decoy | conj |
| 40 | by | by | ADP | _ | 42 enemies | case |
| 41 | their | their | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 42 enemies | nmod:poss |
| 42 | enemies | enemy | NOUN | Number=Plur | 34 imitated | obl |
| 43 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 45 Ojibways | punct |
| 44 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 45 Ojibways | det |
| 45 | Ojibways | Ojibway | PROPN | Number=Plur | 42 enemies | conj |
| 46 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 2 Footnote | punct |
| 47 | ] | ] | PUNCT | _ | 2 Footnote | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | believe | present | the Dakotas | similar reasons conj | vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Experiencer | ||||
| 2 | is in a quote | past | wolves | tree rules | |||||
| 3 | do | past | the Dakotas not said here | our Saxon ancestors | firmly property | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent ancestor=Eventuality | |||
| 4 | imitate | gerund · passive | Dakotas's enemies and the Ojibways | similar reasons not said here | as a decoy or signal result; often property | vn patent-101 «NP V NP PP.result»: agent=Agent as decoy=Result | |||
| 6 | howl | the wolf | nom howl «communication intransitive»: of=agent |
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/pg8122/21/11/