---
title: What sound is it that makes my ear ache!” exclaimed Iktomi, holding… — Old Indian Legends · tree and pragmatics
description: What sound is it that makes my ear ache!” exclaimed Iktomi, holding a hand on his ear. Who acts: sound, my. A sentence of «Old Indian Legends» by Zitkala-Sa, Iktomi and the Ducks, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Old Indian Legends, Iktomi and the Ducks, sentence 119

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What sound is it that makes my ear ache!” exclaimed Iktomi, holding a hand on his ear.

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**Who acts:** sound, my · **What happens:** be, make, exclaim, hold, ache · **To what, where:** ear ache, Iktomi, hand, ear

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This is a sentence of «Old Indian Legends» by Zitkala-Sa, Iktomi and the Ducks. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (sound, my), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**Parsed by Mova, not checked by a teacher.** This tree is Mova's own parse (the `en` model, on the CPU, when the site is built); it may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg338:2:119
# text = What sound is it that makes my ear ache!” exclaimed Iktomi, holding a hand on his ear.
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	12	nsubj:outer	_	_
2	sound	sound	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	cop	_	_
4	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
5	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	6	nsubj	_	_
6	makes	make	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	acl:relcl	_	_
7	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
8	ear	ear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	compound	_	_
9	ache	ache	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	1	punct	_	_
12	exclaimed	exclaim	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
13	Iktomi	Iktomi	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
15	holding	hold	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	12	advcl	_	_
16	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	_
18	on	on	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	20	nmod:poss	_	_
20	ear	ear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	12	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | sound |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **make** | present | sound | my ear ache |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.material V NP»: agent=Material ache=Product |
| 3 | **exclaim** *speech: express* *in a quote* | past |  | Iktomi |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent iktomi=Topic |
| 4 | **hold** *in a quote* | gerund |  | a hand |  | IKTOMI's ear |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent hand=Theme on ear=Location |
| 5 | **ache** |  | my |  |  |  |  |  | nom ache «state intransitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .note -->
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.

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**Text:** «Old Indian Legends» by Zitkala-Sa, Project Gutenberg book 338 (public domain in the USA). **Tree:** Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), the chapter read in order.

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