---
title: Then she asked him: “Grandfather, how can I get the Talking-Bird, th… — Russian Folk-Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: Then she asked him: “Grandfather, how can I get the Talking-Bird, the Singing-Tree, and the Water of Life?” Who acts: soul. A sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 32, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Russian Folk-Tales, Opening, part 32, sentence 102

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Then she asked him: “Grandfather, how can I get the Talking-Bird, the Singing-Tree, and the Water of Life?”

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**Who acts:** soul · **What happens:** ask, get · **To what, where:** Grandfather, Prince, Talking Bird · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 32. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (soul), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg62509:32:102
# text = Then she asked him: “Grandfather, how can I get the Talking-Bird, the Singing-Tree, and the Water of Life?”
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	3	advmod	_	_
2	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	iobj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	7	punct	_	_
6	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	Grandfather	grandfather	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
9	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	12	advmod	_	_
10	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
11	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	conj	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
14	Talking	talking	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	16	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	Bird	Bird	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
19	Singing	Singing	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	21	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	19	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	Tree	Tree	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	16	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	Water	Water	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	parataxis	_	_
26	of	of	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
27	Life	Life	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	25	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	25	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	25	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | soul | Grandfather | Prince |  | then | the Water of Life *parataxis* | vn urge-58.1-1-1 «NP V NP that S»: agent=Agent he=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 2 | **get** *in a quote* | can | soul | the Talking Bird and the Singing Tree |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer bird=Stimulus |

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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:** «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Project Gutenberg book 62509 (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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