--- title: He thought, “Ah, little bird, if you could speak I would ask you whe… — The man who married the moon, and other Pueblo I… · tree and pragmatics description: He thought, “Ah, little bird, if you could speak I would ask you where there is water, for I am fainting with thirst, and dare not eat, for that would make it worse!” Who acts: water, you, that. A sentence of «The man who married the moon, and other Pueblo Indian folk-stories» by Charles Fletcher Lu --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg77804/23/39/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The man who married the moon, and othe…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg77804/) / [The Drowning of Pecos](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg77804/23/) / 39 # The man who married the moon, and other Pueblo Indian folk-stories, The Drowning of Pecos, sentence 39 He thought, “Ah, little bird, if you could speak I would ask you where there is water, for I am fainting with thirst, and dare not eat, for that would make it worse!” **Who acts:** water, you, that · **What happens:** think, speak, ask, be, faint, not dare · **To what, where:** you, bird · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «The man who married the moon, and other Pueblo Indian folk-stories» by Charles Fletcher Lummis, The Drowning of Pecos. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (water, you, that), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong. ## The tree {#tree} ```conllu # sent_id = book:pg77804:23:39 # text = He thought, “Ah, little bird, if you could speak I would ask you where there is water, for I am fainting with thirst, and dare not eat, for that would make it worse!” 1 He he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 2 nsubj _ _ 2 thought think VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ SpaceAfter=No 3 , , PUNCT , _ 8 punct _ _ 4 “ " PUNCT `` _ 8 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 5 Ah ah INTJ UH _ 8 discourse _ SpaceAfter=No 6 , , PUNCT , _ 5 punct _ _ 7 little little ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 8 amod _ _ 8 bird bird NOUN NN Number=Sing 2 ccomp _ SpaceAfter=No 9 , , PUNCT , _ 13 punct _ _ 10 if if SCONJ IN _ 13 mark _ _ 11 you you PRON PRP Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs 13 nsubj _ _ 12 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 13 aux _ _ 13 speak speak VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 2 ccomp _ _ 14 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 16 nsubj _ _ 15 would would AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 16 aux _ _ 16 ask ask VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 13 conj _ _ 17 you you PRON PRP Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs 16 obj _ _ 18 where where ADV WRB PronType=Rel 20 advmod _ _ 19 there there PRON EX PronType=Dem 20 expl _ _ 20 is be VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 16 advcl _ _ 21 water water NOUN NN Number=Sing 20 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 22 , , PUNCT , _ 26 punct _ _ 23 for for SCONJ IN _ 26 mark _ _ 24 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 26 nsubj _ _ 25 am be AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 26 aux _ _ 26 fainting faint VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 16 advcl _ _ 27 with with ADP IN _ 28 case _ _ 28 thirst thirst NOUN NN Number=Sing 26 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 29 , , PUNCT , _ 31 punct _ _ 30 and and CCONJ CC _ 31 cc _ _ 31 dare dare VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 13 conj _ _ 32 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 31 advmod _ _ 33 eat eat VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 31 xcomp _ SpaceAfter=No 34 , , PUNCT , _ 38 punct _ _ 35 for for SCONJ IN _ 38 mark _ _ 36 that that PRON DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 38 nsubj _ _ 37 would would AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 38 aux _ _ 38 make make VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 31 conj _ _ 39 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 38 obj _ _ 40 worse bad ADJ JJR Degree=Cmp 38 xcomp _ SpaceAfter=No 41 ! ! PUNCT . _ 13 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 42 ” " PUNCT '' _ 13 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **think** *speech: other* | past | water | | | | | little bird *ccomp* | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme | | 2 | **speak** *speech: other* *a condition, not said to happen, in a quote* | could | you | | | | | | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 3 | **ask** *speech: ask* *in a quote* | would | water | | you | | | | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent you=Recipient | | 4 | **be** *in a quote* | present | water | | | there | | | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 5 | **faint** *in a quote* | present · progressive | water | | | | | with thirst | vn change\_bodily\_state-40.8.4 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer | | 6 | **not** **dare** *in a quote* | infinitive | you *not said here* | | | | | | vn urge-58.1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 7 | **not** **eat** *in a quote* | infinitive | you *not said here* | | | | | | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 8 | **make** *in a quote* | would | that | bird | | | | bad *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset it=Product | 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. **Text:** «The man who married the moon, and other Pueblo Indian folk-stories» by Charles Fletcher Lummis, Project Gutenberg book 77804 (public domain in the USA). **Tree:** Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), the chapter read in order. - ← previous: [sentence 38](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg77804/23/38/) - next →: [sentence 40](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg77804/23/40/) - ↑ back to [The Drowning of Pecos](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg77804/23/)