--- title: Now ’tis of old the custom When an Indian seeks a wife, Be it from h… — Kulóskap the master, and other Algonkin poems · tree and pragmatics description: Now ’tis of old the custom When an Indian seeks a wife, Be it from her father or friends, He makes small ado about it, And only utters two words Which mean in the Micmac language: “I am tired of living alone.” Who acts: Indian, custom, two words. A sentence of «Kulóskap the master, and other Algonki --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg78673/5/71/) [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/) / [Kulóskap the master, and other Algonki…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg78673/) / [Opening, part 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg78673/5/) / 71 # Kulóskap the master, and other Algonkin poems, Opening, part 5, sentence 71 Now ’tis of old the custom When an Indian seeks a wife, Be it from her father or friends, He makes small ado about it, And only utters two words Which mean in the Micmac language: “I am tired of living alone.” **Who acts:** Indian, custom, two words · **What happens:** seek, be, make, utter, mean, live · **To what, where:** wife, custom, small ado, two words · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «Kulóskap the master, and other Algonkin poems», Opening, part 5. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Indian, custom, two words), 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:pg78673:5:71 # text = Now ’tis of old the custom When an Indian seeks a wife, Be it from her father or friends, He makes small ado about it, And only utters two words Which mean in the Micmac language: “I am tired of living alone.” 1 Now now ADV RB PronType=Dem 5 advmod _ _ 2 ’ ' PUNCT , _ 1 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 3 tis tis NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 advmod _ _ 4 of of ADP IN _ 3 fixed _ _ 5 old old ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 0 root _ _ 6 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 7 det _ _ 7 custom custom NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 nsubj _ _ 8 When when SCONJ WRB _ 11 mark _ _ 9 an a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 10 det _ _ 10 Indian Indian ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 11 nsubj _ _ 11 seeks seek VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 5 advcl _ _ 12 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 13 det _ _ 13 wife wife NOUN NN Number=Sing 11 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 14 , , PUNCT , _ 16 punct _ _ 15 Be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 16 cop _ _ 16 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 24 nsubj _ _ 17 from from ADP IN _ 19 case _ _ 18 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 19 nmod:poss _ _ 19 father father NOUN NN Number=Sing 16 nmod _ _ 20 or or CCONJ CC _ 21 cc _ _ 21 friends friend NOUN NNS Number=Plur 19 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 22 , , PUNCT , _ 19 punct _ _ 23 He he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 24 nsubj _ _ 24 makes make VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 5 parataxis _ _ 25 small small ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 26 amod _ _ 26 ado ado NOUN NN Number=Sing 24 obj _ _ 27 about about ADP IN _ 28 case _ _ 28 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 26 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 29 , , PUNCT , _ 32 punct _ _ 30 And and CCONJ CC _ 32 cc _ _ 31 only only ADV RB _ 32 advmod _ _ 32 utters utter VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 24 conj _ _ 33 two two NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 34 nummod _ _ 34 words word NOUN NNS Number=Plur 32 obj _ _ 35 Which which PRON WDT PronType=Rel 36 nsubj _ _ 36 mean mean VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 34 acl:relcl _ _ 37 in in ADP IN _ 40 case _ _ 38 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 40 det _ _ 39 Micmac Micmac PROPN NNP Number=Sing 40 compound _ _ 40 language language NOUN NN Number=Sing 36 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 41 : : PUNCT : _ 45 punct _ _ 42 “ " PUNCT `` _ 45 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 43 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 45 nsubj _ _ 44 am be AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 45 cop _ _ 45 tired tired ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 32 advcl _ _ 46 of of SCONJ IN _ 47 mark _ _ 47 living live VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 45 advcl _ _ 48 alone alone ADV RB _ 47 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 49 . . PUNCT . _ 5 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 50 ” " PUNCT '' _ 5 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **seek** | present | a Indian | a wife | | | | | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wife=Theme | | 2 | **is a** | infinitive | | custom | | | | from wife's father or friends | tree rules | | 3 | **make** | present | custom | small ado | | | | about ado; many *nsubj* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.material V NP»: agent=Material ado=Product | | 4 | **utter** *speech: other* | present | custom *not said here* | two words | | | | | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent word=Topic | | 5 | **mean** | present | two words | | | | | in the Micmac language | vn representation-110.1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Pivot in language=Attribute | | 6 | **is** *in a quote* | present | custom | | | | | tired *property* | tree rules | | 7 | **live** *in a quote* | gerund | custom *not said here* | | | | | alone *property* | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | 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:** «Kulóskap the master, and other Algonkin poems», Project Gutenberg book 78673 (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 70](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg78673/5/70/) - next →: [sentence 72](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg78673/5/72/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg78673/5/)