---
title: An old chief sat in this teepee; his hair was like the icicles that… — Wigwam stories told by North American Indians · tree and pragmatics
description: An old chief sat in this teepee; his hair was like the icicles that hang from dead pine-tree branches; he was very old. Who acts: old chief, hair, icicles, teepee. A sentence of «Wigwam stories told by North American Indians» by Mary Catherine Judd, X. Legend of the Arbutus, with its dependency tree
---

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# Wigwam stories told by North American Indians, X. Legend of the Arbutus, sentence 5

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An old chief sat in this teepee; his hair was like the icicles that hang from dead pine-tree branches; he was very old.

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**Who acts:** old chief, hair, icicles, teepee · **What happens:** sit, be, hang · **To what, where:** teepee, dead tree branches

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This is a sentence of «Wigwam stories told by North American Indians» by Mary Catherine Judd, X. Legend of the Arbutus. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (old chief, hair, icicles, teepee), 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:pg73136:79:5
# text = An old chief sat in this teepee; his hair was like the icicles that hang from dead pine-tree branches; he was very old.
1	An	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	chief	chief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	sat	sit	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	7	det	_	_
7	teepee	teepee	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	14	punct	_	_
9	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	10	nmod:poss	_	_
10	hair	hair	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	_
11	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	cop	_	_
12	like	like	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	icicles	icicle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	_
15	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	16	nsubj	_	_
16	hang	hang	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	14	acl:relcl	_	_
17	from	from	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
18	dead	dead	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	amod	_	_
19	pine	pine	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	19	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	compound	_	_
22	branches	branch	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
24	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
25	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	cop	_	_
26	very	very	ADV	RB	_	27	advmod	_	_
27	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sit** | past | a old chief |  |  | this teepee |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent in teepee=Location |
| 2 | **is** | past | teepee's hair |  |  |  |  | like the icicles | tree rules |
| 3 | **hang** | present | the icicles |  |  | dead tree branches |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **is** | past | teepee |  |  |  |  | old *property* | tree rules |

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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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