---
title: Do you know why the rattlesnake--which is the king of all snakes and… — The man who married the moon, and other Pueblo I… · tree and pragmatics
description: Do you know why the rattlesnake--which is the king of all snakes and alone has the power of death in his mouth--always shakes his _guaje_[19] before he bites?” Who acts: you, rattlesnake. A sentence of «The man who married the moon, and other Pueblo Indian folk-stories» by Charles Fletcher Lummis, T
---

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# The man who married the moon, and other Pueblo Indian folk-stories, The First of the Rattlesnakes, sentence 12

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Do you know why the rattlesnake--which is the king of all snakes and alone has the power of death in his mouth--always shakes his \_guaje\_\[19\] before he bites?”

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**Who acts:** you, rattlesnake · **What happens:** know, be, have, shake, bite · **To what, where:** king, power, mouth, guaje · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The man who married the moon, and other Pueblo Indian folk-stories» by Charles Fletcher Lummis, The First of the Rattlesnakes. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (you, rattlesnake), 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:pg77804:8:12
# text = Do you know why the rattlesnake--which is the king of all snakes and alone has the power of death in his mouth--always shakes his _guaje_[19] before he bites?”
1	Do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
2	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	17	advmod	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	rattlesnake	rattlesnake	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	11	nsubj	_	_
9	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	cop	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	appos	_	_
12	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	14	det	_	_
14	snakes	snake	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	nmod	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
16	alone	alone	ADV	RB	_	14	conj	_	_
17	has	have	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	ccomp	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	power	power	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	_
20	of	of	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	death	death	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nmod	_	_
22	in	in	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	24	nmod:poss	_	_
24	mouth	mouth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	27	advmod	_	_
27	shakes	shake	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
28	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	30	nmod:poss	_	_
29	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	30	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	guaje	guaje	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	33	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	[	[	PUNCT	-LRB-	_	33	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	19	19	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	30	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	]	]	PUNCT	-RRB-	_	33	punct	_	_
35	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	37	mark	_	_
36	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	37	nsubj	_	_
37	bites	bite	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	27	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **know** | present · do-support | you |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 2 | **is a** | present | the rattlesnake | the king |  |  |  | of all snakes | tree rules |
| 3 | **have** | present | the rattlesnake | the power of death |  | rattlesnake's mouth |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent power=Patient |
| 4 | **shake** | present | you *not said here* | rattlesnake's guaje |  |  |  | always *property* | vn shake-22.3-2 «NP V NP together»: agent=Agent guaje=Patient |
| 5 | **bite** | present | rattlesnake |  |  |  |  |  | vn swat-18.2 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent |

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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 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.

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