---
title: When the animals were all seated in a ring around the council fire,… — Wigwam stories told by North American Indians · tree and pragmatics
description: When the animals were all seated in a ring around the council fire, he asked them this question: “Shall we have night all the time or daylight?” Who acts: porcupine, we. A sentence of «Wigwam stories told by North American Indians» by Mary Catherine Judd, XXXIII. the Chipmunk’s Black Stripes, with i
---

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# Wigwam stories told by North American Indians, XXXIII. the Chipmunk’s Black Stripes, sentence 5

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When the animals were all seated in a ring around the council fire, he asked them this question: “Shall we have night all the time or daylight?”

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**Who acts:** porcupine, we · **What happens:** seat, ask, have · **To what, where:** animals, ring, question · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Wigwam stories told by North American Indians» by Mary Catherine Judd, XXXIII. the Chipmunk’s Black Stripes. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (porcupine, we), 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:pg73136:58:5
# text = When the animals were all seated in a ring around the council fire, he asked them this question: “Shall we have night all the time or daylight?”
1	When	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	6	mark	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	animals	animal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj:pass	_	_
4	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux:pass	_	_
5	all	all	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	seated	seat	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	16	advcl	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	ring	ring	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
10	around	around	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
12	council	council	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	compound	_	_
13	fire	fire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
15	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
16	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
17	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	obj	_	_
18	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	19	det	_	_
19	question	question	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	24	punct	_	_
21	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	24	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	Shall	shall	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	24	aux	_	_
23	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
24	have	have	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	appos	_	_
25	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obj	_	_
26	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	28	det:predet	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obj	_	_
29	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
30	daylight	daylight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	24	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	24	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **seat** | past · passive |  | the animals |  | a ring around the council fire |  | all *property* | vn fit-54.3 «NP V NP PP.location»: subject=Value in ring=Location |
| 2 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | porcupine | this question | animals *= animal* |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **have** *in a quote* | shall | we |  |  |  | night; time |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: 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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