---
title: _ The devil in this story is the popular myth of the water-gods or s… — Russian Folk-Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: _ The devil in this story is the popular myth of the water-gods or sprites, elsewhere called the _vodyanóy_ or _vódyánik_. Who acts: devil. A sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 41, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Russian Folk-Tales, Opening, part 41, sentence 7

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\_ The devil in this story is the popular myth of the water-gods or sprites, elsewhere called the \_vodyanóy\_ or \_vódyánik\_.

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**Who acts:** devil · **What happens:** be, call · **To what, where:** popular myth, vodyanóy · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 41. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (devil), 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:pg62509:41:7
# text = _ The devil in this story is the popular myth of the water-gods or sprites, elsewhere called the _vodyanóy_ or _vódyánik_.
1	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	10	punct	_	_
2	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	devil	devil	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	6	det	_	_
6	story	story	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
7	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	cop	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	popular	popular	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	myth	myth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
13	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	gods	god	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	nmod	_	_
16	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
17	sprites	sprite	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
19	elsewhere	elsewhere	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
20	called	call	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	10	parataxis	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
22	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	23	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	vodyanóy	vodyanóy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	20	punct	_	_
25	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
26	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	27	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	vódyánik	vódyánik	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	20	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | the devil in this story | the popular myth |  |  |  | of the water gods or sprites | tree rules |
| 2 | **call** | participle |  | the vodyanóy |  |  |  | vódyánik *conj*; elsewhere *property* | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

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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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