---
title: An Indian teaches his children to tell the truth; his children are w… — Wigwam stories told by North American Indians · tree and pragmatics
description: An Indian teaches his children to tell the truth; his children are wise; they speak the truth to their tribe. Who acts: Indian, children. A sentence of «Wigwam stories told by North American Indians» by Mary Catherine Judd, I. Iagoo, the Great Story-teller, with its dependency tree and the pragmatic
---

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# Wigwam stories told by North American Indians, I. Iagoo, the Great Story-teller, sentence 14

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An Indian teaches his children to tell the truth; his children are wise; they speak the truth to their tribe.

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**Who acts:** Indian, children · **What happens:** teach, tell, be, speak · **To what, where:** children, truth · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Wigwam stories told by North American Indians» by Mary Catherine Judd, I. Iagoo, the Great Story-teller. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Indian, children), 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:pg73136:26:14
# text = An Indian teaches his children to tell the truth; his children are wise; they speak the truth to their tribe.
1	An	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	Indian	Indian	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	nsubj	_	_
3	teaches	teach	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	truth	truth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	14	punct	_	_
11	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	12	nmod:poss	_	_
12	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	nsubj	_	_
13	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	14	cop	_	_
14	wise	wise	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	17	punct	_	_
16	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
17	speak	speak	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	truth	truth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	_
20	to	to	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	22	nmod:poss	_	_
22	tribe	tribe	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **teach** *speech: other* | present | a Indian |  | grandfather's children |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent child=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* | to-infinitive | a Indian *not said here* | the truth |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent truth=Recipient |
| 3 | **is** | present | grandfather's children |  |  |  |  | wise *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **speak** *speech: other* | present | children *= child* | the truth |  |  |  | to children's tribe | 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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