---
title: “My brother,” said Menabozho the Sly One, “can you tell me where Men… — Wigwam stories told by North American Indians · tree and pragmatics
description: “My brother,” said Menabozho the Sly One, “can you tell me where Menabozho’s brother wolf is?” Who acts: brother, you, brother wolf. A sentence of «Wigwam stories told by North American Indians» by Mary Catherine Judd, IV. How the Kingfisher Got His Ring and His Ruffle, with its dependency tree and 
---

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# Wigwam stories told by North American Indians, IV. How the Kingfisher Got His Ring and His Ruffle, sentence 7

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“My brother,” said Menabozho the Sly One, “can you tell me where Menabozho’s brother wolf is?”

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**Who acts:** brother, you, brother wolf · **What happens:** say, tell, be · **To what, where:** brother · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Wigwam stories told by North American Indians» by Mary Catherine Judd, IV. How the Kingfisher Got His Ring and His Ruffle. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (brother, you, brother wolf), 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:pg73136:73:7
# text = “My brother,” said Menabozho the Sly One, “can you tell me where Menabozho’s brother wolf is?”
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	My	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
3	brother	brother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
6	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	Menabozho	Menabozho	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	Sly	Sly	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	ccomp	_	_
10	One	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	9	flat	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
12	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	15	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
14	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
15	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	ccomp	_	_
16	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	15	iobj	_	_
17	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	22	advmod	_	_
18	Menabozho	Menabozho	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	21	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	’s	's	PART	POS	_	18	case	_	_
20	brother	brother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	compound	_	_
21	wolf	wolf	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nsubj	_	_
22	is	be	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	15	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	15	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	15	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: ask* | past | My brother |  |  |  |  | Menabozho *nsubj*; the Sly *ccomp* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | can | you |  | My brother *= brother* |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP what S»: agent=Agent i=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 3 | **be** *in a quote* | present | Menabozho's brother wolf |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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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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