---
title: These sturgeon from Sturgeon Lake are descended from a serpent which… — Ojibwa myths and tales · tree and pragmatics
description: These sturgeon from Sturgeon Lake are descended from a serpent which was cut in two a long time ago, but lived and bred young ones with no tails. A sentence of «Ojibwa myths and tales» by Geo. E. Laidlaw, The Tailless Sturgeon., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Ojibwa myths and tales, The Tailless Sturgeon., sentence 5

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These sturgeon from Sturgeon Lake are descended from a serpent which was cut in two a long time ago, but lived and bred young ones with no tails.

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**What happens:** descend, cut, live, breed · **To what, where:** sturgeon, serpent, two, young ones

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This is a sentence of «Ojibwa myths and tales» by Geo. E. Laidlaw, The Tailless Sturgeon.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: 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:pg76755:24:5
# text = These sturgeon from Sturgeon Lake are descended from a serpent which was cut in two a long time ago, but lived and bred young ones with no tails.
1	These	this	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	2	det	_	_
2	sturgeon	sturgeon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	from	from	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	Sturgeon	Sturgeon	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	_
5	Lake	Lake	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
6	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux:pass	_	_
7	descended	descend	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
8	from	from	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	serpent	serpent	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
11	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	13	nsubj:pass	_	_
12	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	aux:pass	_	_
13	cut	cut	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	10	acl:relcl	_	_
14	in	in	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	13	obl	_	_
16	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
17	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl:unmarked	_	_
19	ago	ago	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
21	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
22	lived	live	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	parataxis	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
24	bred	breed	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	conj	_	_
25	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	amod	_	_
26	ones	one	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	24	obj	_	_
27	with	with	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	29	det	_	_
29	tails	tail	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	24	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **descend** | present · passive |  | this sturgeon from Sturgeon Lake |  | a serpent |  |  | vn meander-47.7-1 «PP.location V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 2 | **cut** | past · passive |  | a serpent |  | two |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: subject=Product |
| 3 | **live** | past |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **breed** | past |  | young ones |  |  |  | with no tails | 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:** «Ojibwa myths and tales» by Geo. E. Laidlaw, Project Gutenberg book 76755 (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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