---
title: The great fish floated on the water like a little sun-fish; when it… — Wigwam stories told by North American Indians · tree and pragmatics
description: The great fish floated on the water like a little sun-fish; when it touched the shore the birds fed on its flesh, and Menabozho came out and went to his grandmother, Nokomis. Who acts: great fish, Menabozho. A sentence of «Wigwam stories told by North American Indians» by Mary Catherine Judd, VI. Me
---

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# Wigwam stories told by North American Indians, VI. Menabozho Swallowed By a Large Fish, sentence 14

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The great fish floated on the water like a little sun-fish; when it touched the shore the birds fed on its flesh, and Menabozho came out and went to his grandmother, Nokomis.

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**Who acts:** great fish, Menabozho · **What happens:** float, touch, feed, come out, go · **To what, where:** great fish, water, shore, birds

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This is a sentence of «Wigwam stories told by North American Indians» by Mary Catherine Judd, VI. Menabozho Swallowed By a Large Fish. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (great fish, Menabozho), 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:pg73136:75:14
# text = The great fish floated on the water like a little sun-fish; when it touched the shore the birds fed on its flesh, and Menabozho came out and went to his grandmother, Nokomis.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	fish	fish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nsubj	_	_
4	floated	float	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	acl	_	_
5	on	on	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
8	like	like	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
10	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
11	sun	sun	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	fish	fish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	17	punct	_	_
15	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	17	advmod	_	_
16	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
17	touched	touch	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	shore	shore	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	conj	_	_
22	fed	feed	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	21	acl	_	_
23	on	on	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	25	nmod:poss	_	_
25	flesh	flesh	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
28	Menabozho	Menabozho	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	29	nsubj	_	_
29	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	parataxis	_	_
30	out	out	ADV	RB	_	29	advmod	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
32	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	conj	_	_
33	to	to	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
34	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	35	nmod:poss	_	_
35	grandmother	grandmother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
37	Nokomis	Nokomis	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	35	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	17	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **float** | participle |  | the great fish *not said here* |  | the water |  | like a little sun fish | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on water=Trajectory |
| 2 | **touch** | past | the great fish | the shore and the birds |  |  |  | fish *nsubj* | vn contiguous\_location-47.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme shore=Co-Theme |
| 3 | **feed** | participle |  | the birds *not said here* |  |  |  | on fish's flesh | vn gorge-39.6 «NP V PP.patient»: agent=Agent on flesh=Patient |
| 4 | **come out** | past | Menabozho |  |  |  |  | out *property* | vn become-109.1 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Patient |
| 5 | **go** | past | Menabozho *not said here* |  |  |  |  | to Menabozho's grandmother | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to grandmother=Initial\_Location |

<!-- .note -->
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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