---
title: Then the man flew over him and defecated in his face, and Wemicus sa… — Myths and Folk-lore of the Timiskaming Algonquin… · tree and pragmatics
description: Then the man flew over him and defecated in his face, and Wemicus said, “Gull’s excrement always smells like that when they have eaten a man.” Who acts: man, Wemicus, excrement, gulls. A sentence of «Myths and Folk-lore of the Timiskaming Algonquin and Timagami Ojibwa» by Frank G. Speck, Myths and F
---

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# Myths and Folk-lore of the Timiskaming Algonquin and Timagami Ojibwa, Myths and Folk-lore of the Timagami Ojibwa., part 3, sentence 157

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Then the man flew over him and defecated in his face, and Wemicus said, “Gull’s excrement always smells like that when they have eaten a man.”

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**Who acts:** man, Wemicus, excrement, gulls · **What happens:** fly, defecate, say, smell, eat · **To what, where:** face, man · **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 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (man, Wemicus, excrement, gulls), 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:pg66509:13:157
# text = Then the man flew over him and defecated in his face, and Wemicus said, “Gull’s excrement always smells like that when they have eaten a man.”
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	4	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	flew	fly	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	over	over	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	obl	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	defecated	defecate	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	conj	_	_
9	in	in	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	face	face	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
14	Wemicus	Wemicus	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	15	nsubj	_	_
15	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
17	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	22	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	Gull	gull	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	’s	's	PART	POS	_	18	case	_	_
20	excrement	excrement	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nsubj	_	_
21	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	22	advmod	_	_
22	smells	smell	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	15	ccomp	_	_
23	like	like	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	22	obl	_	_
25	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	28	mark	_	_
26	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
27	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	28	aux	_	_
28	eaten	eat	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	22	advcl	_	_
29	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fly** | past | the man |  |  |  | then | over Wemicus | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V NP.theme PP»: agent=Agent over he=Location |
| 2 | **defecate** | participle | the man *not said here* |  |  | Wemicus's face |  |  | vn breathe-40.1.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Wemicus |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **smell** *in a quote* | present | Gull's excrement |  |  |  |  | like that; always *property* | vn smell\_emission-43.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **eat** *in a quote* | present · perfect | gulls *= gull* | a man |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent man=Patient |

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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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