---
title: There little by little he learned the tongue of the tawny Dakotas; A… — Legends of the Northwest · tree and pragmatics
description: There little by little he learned the tongue of the tawny Dakotas; And the heart of the good father yearned to lead them away from their idols-- Their giants [16] and dread Thunder-birds --their worship of stones [73] and the devil. " Who acts: Minnesota, heart, stones. A sentence of «Legends of the
---

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# Legends of the Northwest, The Feast of the Virgins., part 3, sentence 18

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There little by little he learned the tongue of the tawny Dakotas; And the heart of the good father yearned to lead them away from their idols-- Their giants \[16\] and dread Thunder-birds --their worship of stones \[73\] and the devil. "

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**Who acts:** Minnesota, heart, stones · **What happens:** learn, yearn, lead, dread, worship · **To what, where:** tongue, worship, hearts, Thunder birds

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This is a sentence of «Legends of the Northwest» by Hanford Lennox Gordon, The Feast of the Virgins., part 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Minnesota, heart, stones), 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:pg8122:10:18
# text = There little by little he learned the tongue of the tawny Dakotas; And the heart of the good father yearned to lead them away from their idols-- Their giants [16] and dread Thunder-birds --their worship of stones [73] and the devil. "
1	There	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	6	expl	_	_
2	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	advmod	_	_
3	by	by	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	little	little	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	6	obl	_	_
5	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	learned	learn	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	tongue	tongue	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	tawny	tawny	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	Dakotas	dakota	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	21	punct	_	_
14	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	heart	heart	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nsubj	_	_
17	of	of	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
19	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
20	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nmod	_	_
21	yearned	yearn	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
22	to	to	PART	TO	_	23	mark	_	_
23	lead	lead	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	xcomp	_	_
24	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	obj	_	_
25	away	away	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	_
26	from	from	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	28	nmod:poss	_	_
28	idols	idol	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
30	Their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	31	nmod:poss	_	_
31	giants	giant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	parataxis	_	_
32	[	[	PUNCT	-LRB-	_	33	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	16	16	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	31	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	]	]	PUNCT	-RRB-	_	33	punct	_	_
35	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
36	dread	dread	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	conj	_	_
37	Thunder	Thunder	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	39	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	37	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	36	obj	_	_
40	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	42	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	42	nmod:poss	_	_
42	worship	worship	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	_
43	of	of	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
44	stones	stone	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	42	nmod	_	_
45	[	[	PUNCT	-LRB-	_	46	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	73	73	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	42	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	]	]	PUNCT	-RRB-	_	46	punct	_	_
48	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	50	cc	_	_
49	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	50	det	_	_
50	devil	devil	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
52	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **learn** | past | Minnesota | the tongue of the tawny Dakotas |  | there |  |  | vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tongue=Topic |
| 2 | **yearn** | past | the heart of the good father | hearts's worship of stones and the devil |  |  |  |  | vn long-32.2-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 3 | **lead** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the heart of the good father *not said here* | hearts *= heart* |  |  |  | hearts's giants *parataxis*; away *property* | vn accompany-51.7 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Theme |
| 4 | **dread** | infinitive | the heart of the good father *not said here* | Thunder birds |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer bird=Stimulus |
| 5 | **worship** |  | stones |  |  |  |  |  | nom worship «act intransitive»: of=agent |

<!-- .note -->
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:** «Legends of the Northwest» by Hanford Lennox Gordon, Project Gutenberg book 8122 (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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