---
title: Every spring the Indians say that on moonlit nights they can see the… — Wigwam stories told by North American Indians · tree and pragmatics
description: Every spring the Indians say that on moonlit nights they can see the shadow canoe of Ampata leaping over the falls. Who acts: spring, Indians, shadow canoe. A sentence of «Wigwam stories told by North American Indians» by Mary Catherine Judd, A Legend of Minnehaha Falls, with its dependency tree and
---

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# Wigwam stories told by North American Indians, A Legend of Minnehaha Falls, sentence 26

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Every spring the Indians say that on moonlit nights they can see the shadow canoe of Ampata leaping over the falls.

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**Who acts:** spring, Indians, shadow canoe · **What happens:** say, see, leap · **To what, where:** shadow canoe, falls · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Wigwam stories told by North American Indians» by Mary Catherine Judd, A Legend of Minnehaha Falls. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (spring, Indians, shadow canoe), 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:pg73136:46:26
# text = Every spring the Indians say that on moonlit nights they can see the shadow canoe of Ampata leaping over the falls.
1	Every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	2	det	_	_
2	spring	spring	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	Indians	Indian	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
5	say	say	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
7	on	on	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	moonlit	moonlit	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	nights	night	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	obl	_	_
10	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
11	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
12	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	ccomp	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
14	shadow	shadow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	compound	_	_
15	canoe	canoe	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	_
16	of	of	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	Ampata	Ampata	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	15	nmod	_	_
18	leaping	leap	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	15	acl	_	_
19	over	over	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	falls	fall	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | every spring |  |  |  |  | the Indians *nsubj* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **see** | can | Indians *= indian* | the shadow canoe of Ampata |  |  | night |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer canoe=Stimulus |
| 3 | **leap** | gerund | the shadow canoe of Ampata *not said here* |  |  | the falls |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme over fall=Trajectory |

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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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