---
title: This chief recognized his son’s head, but said nothing, and as they… — Ojibwa myths and tales · tree and pragmatics
description: This chief recognized his son’s head, but said nothing, and as they were all eating, he ate his son’s head just to show them that he was a man. Who acts: chief, chiefs, boy. A sentence of «Ojibwa myths and tales» by Geo. E. Laidlaw, Ojibwa and Mohawk. (no. 2.), with its dependency tree and the pragm
---

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# Ojibwa myths and tales, Ojibwa and Mohawk. (no. 2.), sentence 15

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This chief recognized his son’s head, but said nothing, and as they were all eating, he ate his son’s head just to show them that he was a man.

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**Who acts:** chief, chiefs, boy · **What happens:** recognize, say, eat, show, be · **To what, where:** head, nothing, chiefs, man · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Ojibwa myths and tales» by Geo. E. Laidlaw, Ojibwa and Mohawk. (no. 2.). The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (chief, chiefs, boy), 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:pg76755:9:15
# text = This chief recognized his son’s head, but said nothing, and as they were all eating, he ate his son’s head just to show them that he was a man.
1	This	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	2	det	_	_
2	chief	chief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	recognized	recognize	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	’s	's	PART	POS	_	5	case	_	_
7	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
9	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
11	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	10	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
14	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	18	mark	_	_
15	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
16	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
17	all	all	ADV	RB	_	18	advmod	_	_
18	eating	eat	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	21	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
20	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
21	ate	eat	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
22	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	23	nmod:poss	_	_
23	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	’s	's	PART	POS	_	23	case	_	_
25	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obj	_	_
26	just	just	ADV	RB	_	28	advmod	_	_
27	to	to	PART	TO	_	28	mark	_	_
28	show	show	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	advcl	_	_
29	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	obj	_	_
30	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	34	mark	_	_
31	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	34	nsubj	_	_
32	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	34	cop	_	_
33	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **recognize** | past | this chief | boy's son's head |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer head=Stimulus |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | this chief *not said here* | nothing |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent nothing=Topic |
| 3 | **eat** | past · progressive | chiefs *= chief* |  |  |  |  | all *property* | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **eat** | past | boy | boy's son's head |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent head=Patient |
| 5 | **show** | to-infinitive | boy *not said here* | chiefs *= chief* |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent they=Recipient |
| 6 | **is a** | past | boy | a man |  |  |  |  | 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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