---
title: They can decoy their foe by imitating bird calls or animals; they ca… — Wigwam stories told by North American Indians · tree and pragmatics
description: They can decoy their foe by imitating bird calls or animals; they can make themselves into stump-like figures and almost defy a close inspection. Who acts: Indians. A sentence of «Wigwam stories told by North American Indians» by Mary Catherine Judd, Indian Traits, with its dependency tree and the p
---

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# Wigwam stories told by North American Indians, Indian Traits, sentence 4

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They can decoy their foe by imitating bird calls or animals; they can make themselves into stump-like figures and almost defy a close inspection.

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**Who acts:** Indians · **What happens:** decoy, imitate, make, defy · **To what, where:** foe, bird calls, Indians, like figures, close inspection

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This is a sentence of «Wigwam stories told by North American Indians» by Mary Catherine Judd, Indian Traits. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Indians), 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:pg73136:10:4
# text = They can decoy their foe by imitating bird calls or animals; they can make themselves into stump-like figures and almost defy a close inspection.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	decoy	decoy	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	foe	foe	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
7	imitating	imitate	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	advcl	_	_
8	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	compound	_	_
9	calls	call	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obj	_	_
10	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	animals	animal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	15	punct	_	_
13	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
14	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
15	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	parataxis	_	_
16	themselves	themselves	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	15	obj	_	_
17	into	into	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
18	stump	stump	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	18	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	like	like	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	amod	_	_
21	figures	figure	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	obl	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
23	almost	almost	ADV	RB	_	24	advmod	_	_
24	defy	defy	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	conj	_	_
25	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
26	close	close	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	amod	_	_
27	inspection	inspection	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **decoy** | can | Indians *= indian* | Indians's foe |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **imitate** | gerund | Indians *= indian* *not said here* | bird calls or animals |  |  |  |  | vn patent-101 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent call=Theme |
| 3 | **make** | can | Indians *= indian* | Indians *= indian* |  | like figures |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP.material PP.product»: agent=Agent themselves=Material into figure=Product |
| 4 | **defy** | infinitive | Indians *= indian* *not said here* | a close inspection |  |  |  | almost *property* | 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:** «Wigwam stories told by North American Indians» by Mary Catherine Judd, Project Gutenberg book 73136 (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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