---
title: The wampum belt tells its story by the pictures upon it, while the r… — Wigwam stories told by North American Indians · tree and pragmatics
description: The wampum belt tells its story by the pictures upon it, while the record sticks had only painted notches to help the memory of the tribe’s historians. Who acts: wampum belt. A sentence of «Wigwam stories told by North American Indians» by Mary Catherine Judd, Indian Records, with its dependency tre
---

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# Wigwam stories told by North American Indians, Indian Records, sentence 26

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The wampum belt tells its story by the pictures upon it, while the record sticks had only painted notches to help the memory of the tribe’s historians.

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**Who acts:** wampum belt · **What happens:** tell, paint, help · **To what, where:** story, record sticks, memory · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (wampum belt), 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:pg73136:8:26
# text = The wampum belt tells its story by the pictures upon it, while the record sticks had only painted notches to help the memory of the tribe’s historians.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	wampum	wampum	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	belt	belt	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	tells	tell	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	story	story	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
7	by	by	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	pictures	picture	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	_
10	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
13	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	19	mark	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
15	record	record	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	compound	_	_
16	sticks	stick	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	nsubj:pass	_	_
17	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
18	only	only	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	_
19	painted	paint	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	parataxis	_	_
20	notches	notch	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	obj	_	_
21	to	to	PART	TO	_	22	mark	_	_
22	help	help	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	advcl	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	memory	memory	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obj	_	_
25	of	of	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	tribe	tribe	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	’s	's	PART	POS	_	27	case	_	_
29	historians	historian	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	24	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | present | the wampum belt | belt's story |  |  |  | by the pictures upon history | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent story=Recipient |
| 2 | **paint** | past · perfect · passive |  | the record sticks |  |  |  | notches *obj* | vn coloring-24 «NP V NP ADJP»: subject=Patient notch=Result |
| 3 | **help** | to-infinitive |  | the memory of the tribe's historians |  |  |  |  | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent memory=Beneficiary |

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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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