---
title: The old man looked at it and, laughing, said, “That’s not a porcupin… — Myths and Folk-lore of the Timiskaming Algonquin… · tree and pragmatics
description: The old man looked at it and, laughing, said, “That’s not a porcupine quill, that’s a hair from Nenebuc’s groin!” Who acts: old man, That. A sentence of «Myths and Folk-lore of the Timiskaming Algonquin and Timagami Ojibwa» by Frank G. Speck, Myths and Folk-lore of the Timagami Ojibwa., part 2, with
---

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# Myths and Folk-lore of the Timiskaming Algonquin and Timagami Ojibwa, Myths and Folk-lore of the Timagami Ojibwa., part 2, sentence 122

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The old man looked at it and, laughing, said, “That’s not a porcupine quill, that’s a hair from Nenebuc’s groin!”

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**Who acts:** old man, That · **What happens:** look, laugh, say, not be, be · **To what, where:** porcupine quill, hair, groin · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Myths and Folk-lore of the Timiskaming Algonquin and Timagami Ojibwa» by Frank G. Speck, Myths and Folk-lore of the Timagami Ojibwa., part 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (old man, That), 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:pg66509:12:122
# text = The old man looked at it and, laughing, said, “That’s not a porcupine quill, that’s a hair from Nenebuc’s groin!”
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	looked	look	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	at	at	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	obl	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
9	laughing	laugh	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	11	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
11	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
13	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	19	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	That	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	19	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	’s	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	19	cop	_	_
16	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	19	advmod	_	_
17	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
18	porcupine	porcupine	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	compound	_	_
19	quill	quill	NOUN	NN	_	11	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
21	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	24	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	’s	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	24	cop	_	_
23	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	hair	hair	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	appos	_	_
25	from	from	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
26	Nenebuc	Nenebuc	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	28	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	’s	's	PART	POS	_	26	case	_	_
28	groin	groin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	24	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	19	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **look** | past | the old man |  |  |  |  | at quill | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent at it=Theme |
| 2 | **laugh** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn nonverbal\_expression-40.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **say** *speech: express* | past | the old man *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **not** **is a** *in a quote* | present | That | a porcupine quill |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | that | a hair |  | Nenebuc's groin |  |  | tree rules |

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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:** «Myths and Folk-lore of the Timiskaming Algonquin and Timagami Ojibwa» by Frank G. Speck, Project Gutenberg book 66509 (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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