---
title: A Navajo will not look into the face of the mother of his wife; when… — Wigwam stories told by North American Indians · tree and pragmatics
description: A Navajo will not look into the face of the mother of his wife; when they talk together he looks on the ground or in another direction. Who acts: Navajo, Navajos, Zuñi. A sentence of «Wigwam stories told by North American Indians» by Mary Catherine Judd, The Indians Who Live in Brick Houses, with it
---

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# Wigwam stories told by North American Indians, The Indians Who Live in Brick Houses, sentence 53

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A Navajo will not look into the face of the mother of his wife; when they talk together he looks on the ground or in another direction.

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**Who acts:** Navajo, Navajos, Zuñi · **What happens:** not look, talk, look

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This is a sentence of «Wigwam stories told by North American Indians» by Mary Catherine Judd, The Indians Who Live in Brick Houses. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Navajo, Navajos, Zuñi), 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:pg73136:17:53
# text = A Navajo will not look into the face of the mother of his wife; when they talk together he looks on the ground or in another direction.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	Navajo	navajo	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
5	look	look	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	into	into	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	face	face	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	_
12	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	14	nmod:poss	_	_
14	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	18	punct	_	_
16	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	18	advmod	_	_
17	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
18	talk	talk	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
19	together	together	ADV	RB	_	18	advmod	_	_
20	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
21	looks	look	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	18	advcl	_	_
22	on	on	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	_
25	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
26	in	in	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	another	another	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	28	det	_	_
28	direction	direction	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **look** | future | a Navajo |  |  |  |  | into the face of the mother of Zuñi's wife | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent into face=Theme |
| 2 | **talk** | present | Navajos *= navajo* |  |  |  |  | together *property* | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **look** | present | Zuñi |  |  |  |  | on the ground or another direction | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent on ground=Theme |

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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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