---
title: They built their wigwams on islands and points of land projecting in… — Wigwam stories told by North American Indians · tree and pragmatics
description: They built their wigwams on islands and points of land projecting into the lake, for these made good places of landing for their birch-bark canoes, and also gave them a better chance to watch for their enemies than in the thick forests of pine, birch, and cedar. Who acts: tribes, land. A sentence of
---

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# Wigwam stories told by North American Indians, Sioux and Chippewas of Minnesota, sentence 7

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They built their wigwams on islands and points of land projecting into the lake, for these made good places of landing for their birch-bark canoes, and also gave them a better chance to watch for their enemies than in the thick forests of pine, birch, and cedar.

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**Who acts:** tribes, land · **What happens:** build, project, make, give, watch, point · **To what, where:** wigwams, islands, lake, better chance, tribes, land

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This is a sentence of «Wigwam stories told by North American Indians» by Mary Catherine Judd, Sioux and Chippewas of Minnesota. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (tribes, land), 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:pg73136:21:7
# text = They built their wigwams on islands and points of land projecting into the lake, for these made good places of landing for their birch-bark canoes, and also gave them a better chance to watch for their enemies than in the thick forests of pine, birch, and cedar.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	built	build	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	wigwams	wigwam	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
5	on	on	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	islands	island	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	points	point	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	conj	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	land	land	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	_
11	projecting	project	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	10	acl	_	_
12	into	into	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	lake	lake	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
16	for	for	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
17	these	this	PRON	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	20	nsubj	_	_
18	made	make	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	20	amod	_	_
19	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
20	places	place	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	obl	_	_
21	of	of	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	landing	landing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nmod	_	_
23	for	for	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
24	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	28	nmod:poss	_	_
25	birch	birch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	25	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	bark	bark	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	compound	_	_
28	canoes	canoe	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
30	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
31	also	also	ADV	RB	_	32	advmod	_	_
32	gave	give	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
33	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	iobj	_	_
34	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
35	better	good	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	36	amod	_	_
36	chance	chance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obj	_	_
37	to	to	PART	TO	_	38	mark	_	_
38	watch	watch	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	36	acl	_	_
39	for	for	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
40	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	41	nmod:poss	_	_
41	enemies	enemy	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	38	obl	_	_
42	than	than	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
43	in	in	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
44	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	46	det	_	_
45	thick	thick	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	46	amod	_	_
46	forests	forest	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	38	obl	_	_
47	of	of	ADP	IN	_	48	case	_	_
48	pine	pine	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	46	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	50	punct	_	_
50	birch	birch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	53	punct	_	_
52	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	53	cc	_	_
53	cedar	cedar	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
54	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **build** | past | tribes *= tribe* | tribes's wigwams |  | islands and points of land |  |  | vn base-97.1 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent wigwam=Theme on island=Source |
| 2 | **project** | gerund | land *not said here* |  |  | the lake |  | for made good places  these of landing for tribes's bark canoes | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **make** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset |
| 4 | **give** | past | tribes *= tribe* *not said here* | a better chance | tribes *= tribe* |  |  | cedar *obl* | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent they=Recipient chance=Theme |
| 5 | **watch** | to-infinitive | tribes *= tribe* *not said here* | a better chance *not said here* |  |  |  | for tribes's enemies; than the thick forests of pine and birch | vn search-35.2 «NP V PP.theme NP.location»: agent=Agent for enemy=Theme |
| 6 | **point** |  |  | land |  |  |  |  | nom point «cognition transitive»: of=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:** «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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