---
title: “Who rules the water?” asked the white man. — Wigwam stories told by North American Indians · tree and pragmatics
description: “Who rules the water?” asked the white man. Who acts: rules. A sentence of «Wigwam stories told by North American Indians» by Mary Catherine Judd, VII. the Thunder-bird of the Dakotas, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Wigwam stories told by North American Indians, VII. the Thunder-bird of the Dakotas, sentence 26

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“Who rules the water?” asked the white man.

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**Who acts:** rules · **What happens:** rule, ask · **To what, where:** water, white man · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Wigwam stories told by North American Indians» by Mary Catherine Judd, VII. the Thunder-bird of the Dakotas. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (rules), 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:pg73136:76:26
# text = “Who rules the water?” asked the white man.
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	3	nsubj	_	_
3	rules	rule	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
8	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	white	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **rule** *in a quote* |  |  | the water |  |  |  | Who *nsubj* | tree rules |
| 2 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | rules |  | the white man |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent man=Recipient |

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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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