---
title: When Jīmūta-vāhana heard these words, he thought to himself: “Alas!… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics
description: When Jīmūta-vāhana heard these words, he thought to himself: “Alas! our forefathers, for all their possession of this noble tree, obtained by the favor of this tree naught but wealth and victory over their enemies; thus did they demean themselves, and thus did they demean this tree likewise. Who act
---

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# The grateful elephant, Opening, part 16, sentence 31

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When Jīmūta-vāhana heard these words, he thought to himself: “Alas! our forefathers, for all their possession of this noble tree, obtained by the favor of this tree naught but wealth and victory over their enemies; thus did they demean themselves, and thus did they demean this tree likewise.

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**Who acts:** Jīmūta vāhana, vāhana, Alas · **What happens:** hear, think, forefather, obtain, demean, possess · **To what, where:** words, vāhana, forefathers, Alas, tree, noble tree · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 16. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Jīmūta vāhana, vāhana, Alas), 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:pg74064:16:33
# text = When Jīmūta-vāhana heard these words, he thought to himself: “Alas! our forefathers, for all their possession of this noble tree, obtained by the favor of this tree naught but wealth and victory over their enemies; thus did they demean themselves, and thus did they demean this tree likewise.
1	When	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	5	advmod	_	_
2	Jīmūta	Jīmūta	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	vāhana	vāhana	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	heard	hear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	advcl	_	_
6	these	this	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	7	det	_	_
7	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
9	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	thought	think	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
11	to	to	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	18	punct	_	_
14	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	15	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	Alas	ala	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	15	punct	_	_
17	our	our	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	18	nmod:poss	_	_
18	forefathers	forefather	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
20	for	for	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
21	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	23	det:predet	_	_
22	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	23	nmod:poss	_	_
23	possession	possession	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	appos	_	_
24	of	of	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
25	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	27	det	_	_
26	noble	noble	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	amod	_	_
27	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
29	obtained	obtain	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	18	acl	_	_
30	by	by	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	favor	favor	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	_
33	of	of	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
34	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	36	det	_	_
35	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	compound	_	_
36	naught	naught	PRON	NN	PronType=Neg	32	nmod	_	_
37	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	38	cc	_	_
38	wealth	wealth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	conj	_	_
39	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	40	cc	_	_
40	victory	victory	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	conj	_	_
41	over	over	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
42	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	43	nmod:poss	_	_
43	enemies	enemy	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	40	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	48	punct	_	_
45	thus	thus	ADV	RB	_	48	advmod	_	_
46	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	48	aux	_	_
47	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	48	nsubj	_	_
48	demean	demean	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	parataxis	_	_
49	themselves	themselves	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	48	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	55	punct	_	_
51	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	55	cc	_	_
52	thus	thus	ADV	RB	_	55	advmod	_	_
53	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	55	aux	_	_
54	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	55	nsubj	_	_
55	demean	demean	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	48	conj	_	_
56	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	57	det	_	_
57	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	55	obj	_	_
58	likewise	likewise	ADV	RB	_	55	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
59	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hear** | past | Jīmūta vāhana | this words |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer word=Stimulus |
| 2 | **think** *speech: other* | past | vāhana |  | vāhana |  |  |  | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 3 | **forefather** *in a quote* |  | Alas |  |  |  |  | our *nmod:poss*; Alas's possession of this noble tree *appos* | tree rules |
| 4 | **obtain** *in a quote* | participle |  | our forefathers *not said here* |  |  |  | by the favor of naught  wealth  victory over Alas's enemies | vn obtain-13.5.2-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset |
| 5 | **demean** *in a quote* | past · do-support | Alas *= ala* | Alas *= ala* |  |  |  | thus *property* | vn remedy-45.7 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent themselves=Patient |
| 6 | **demean** *in a quote* | past · do-support | Alas *= ala* | this tree |  |  |  | likewise, thus *property* | vn remedy-45.7 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent tree=Patient |
| 7 | **possess** *in a quote* |  | Alas *= ala* | this noble tree |  |  |  |  | nom possession «act transitive»: poss=agent of=patient |
| 8 | **favor** *in a quote* |  |  | naught  wealth  victory over Alas's enemies |  |  |  |  | nom favor «act transitive»: of=patient |

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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:** «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Project Gutenberg book 74064 (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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