---
title: I must not show you what I carry on my back,” answered Iktomi, nudgi… — Old Indian Legends · tree and pragmatics
description: I must not show you what I carry on my back,” answered Iktomi, nudging his own sides with his elbows. Who acts: I. 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 50

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I must not show you what I carry on my back,” answered Iktomi, nudging his own sides with his elbows.

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**Who acts:** I · **What happens:** not show, carry, answer, nudge · **To what, where:** you, back, Iktomi, own sides · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (I), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**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:pg338:2:50
# text = I must not show you what I carry on my back,” answered Iktomi, nudging his own sides with his elbows.
1	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	show	show	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	4	iobj	_	_
6	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	14	nsubj	_	_
7	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
8	carry	carry	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	acl:relcl	_	_
9	on	on	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	back	back	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	8	punct	_	_
14	answered	answer	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
15	Iktomi	Iktomi	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
17	nudging	nudge	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	14	advcl	_	_
18	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	20	nmod:poss	_	_
19	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
20	sides	side	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	obj	_	_
21	with	with	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	23	nmod:poss	_	_
23	elbows	elbow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **show** | must | I |  | you |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S»: agent=Agent you=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 2 | **carry** | present | I |  |  | my back |  |  | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **answer** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | past |  |  | Iktomi |  |  |  | vn reciprocate-112-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent iktomi=Eventuality |
| 4 | **nudge** *in a quote* | gerund |  | IKTOMI's own sides |  |  |  | with IKTOMI's elbows | vn touch-20-1 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent side=Experiencer with elbow=Instrument |

<!-- .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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