---
title: Their teepees were covered with histories of the battles their owner… — Wigwam stories told by North American Indians · tree and pragmatics
description: Their teepees were covered with histories of the battles their owners had fought, but they had no books of “talking leaves.” Who acts: battles, owners. A sentence of «Wigwam stories told by North American Indians» by Mary Catherine Judd, Books in the Indian Language, with its dependency tree and the
---

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# Wigwam stories told by North American Indians, Books in the Indian Language, sentence 4

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Their teepees were covered with histories of the battles their owners had fought, but they had no books of “talking leaves.”

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**Who acts:** battles, owners · **What happens:** cover, fight, have, talk · **To what, where:** teepees, owners, books

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This is a sentence of «Wigwam stories told by North American Indians» by Mary Catherine Judd, Books in the Indian Language. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (battles, owners), 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:pg73136:5:4
# text = Their teepees were covered with histories of the battles their owners had fought, but they had no books of “talking leaves.”
1	Their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	teepees	teepee	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux:pass	_	_
4	covered	cover	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	with	with	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	histories	history	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	battles	battle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nmod	_	_
10	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	owners	owner	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	nsubj:pass	_	_
12	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
13	fought	fight	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	9	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
15	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
16	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
17	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
18	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	19	det	_	_
19	books	book	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	obj	_	_
20	of	of	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
21	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	23	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	talking	talk	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	23	amod	_	_
23	leaves	leaf	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cover** | past · passive |  | languages's teepees |  |  |  | with histories of the battles | vn fill-9.8-1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: subject=Destination with history=Theme |
| 2 | **fight** | past · perfect · passive | the battles *not said here* | languages's owners |  |  |  |  | vn battle-36.4-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Co-Agent |
| 3 | **have** | past | owners *= owner* | no books of talking leaves |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent book=Patient |
| 4 | **talk** *in a quote* | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

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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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