---
title: No Indian legends or histories have ever explained the meaning of th… — Wigwam stories told by North American Indians · tree and pragmatics
description: No Indian legends or histories have ever explained the meaning of these heaps of earth, which are shaped like animals or birds, and are now sometimes covered by huge trees. Who acts: Indian legends, huge trees. A sentence of «Wigwam stories told by North American Indians» by Mary Catherine Judd, Ind
---

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# Wigwam stories told by North American Indians, Indian Records, sentence 25

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No Indian legends or histories have ever explained the meaning of these heaps of earth, which are shaped like animals or birds, and are now sometimes covered by huge trees.

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**Who acts:** Indian legends, huge trees · **What happens:** explain, shape, cover, mean · **To what, where:** meaning, heaps

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This is a sentence of «Wigwam stories told by North American Indians» by Mary Catherine Judd, Indian Records. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Indian legends, huge trees), 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:pg73136:8:25
# text = No Indian legends or histories have ever explained the meaning of these heaps of earth, which are shaped like animals or birds, and are now sometimes covered by huge trees.
1	No	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	3	det	_	_
2	Indian	Indian	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	legends	legend	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj	_	_
4	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
5	histories	history	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	conj	_	_
6	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
7	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	8	advmod	_	_
8	explained	explain	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	meaning	meaning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	these	this	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	13	det	_	_
13	heaps	heap	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	nmod	_	_
14	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	earth	earth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
17	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	19	nsubj:pass	_	_
18	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	19	aux:pass	_	_
19	shaped	shape	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	13	acl	_	_
20	like	like	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	animals	animal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	obl	_	_
22	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
23	birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
26	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	29	aux:pass	_	_
27	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	29	advmod	_	_
28	sometimes	sometimes	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	29	advmod	_	_
29	covered	cover	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	conj	_	_
30	by	by	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	huge	huge	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	32	amod	_	_
32	trees	tree	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **explain** *speech: assert* | present · perfect | no Indian legends or histories | the meaning of this heaps of earth |  |  | ever |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent meaning=Topic |
| 2 | **shape** | present · passive |  | this heaps of earth |  |  |  | like animals or birds | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: subject=Product |
| 3 | **cover** | present · passive | huge trees |  |  |  | now | sometimes *property* | vn fill-9.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **mean** |  |  | this heaps of earth |  |  |  |  | nom meaning «communication transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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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