---
title: Tis a brother," they said, "of the fire in the talons of dreadful Wa… — Legends of the Northwest · tree and pragmatics
description: Tis a brother," they said, "of the fire in the talons of dreadful Wakínyan, [32] When he flaps his huge wings in his ire, and shoots his red shafts at Unktéhee." Who acts: Tis. A sentence of «Legends of the Northwest» by Hanford Lennox Gordon, The Feast of the Virgins., part 4, with its dependency t
---

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# Legends of the Northwest, The Feast of the Virgins., part 4, sentence 6

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Tis a brother," they said, "of the fire in the talons of dreadful Wakínyan, \[32\] When he flaps his huge wings in his ire, and shoots his red shafts at Unktéhee."

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**Who acts:** Tis · **What happens:** say, flap, shoot · **To what, where:** huge wings, red shafts, Unktéhee · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Legends of the Northwest» by Hanford Lennox Gordon, The Feast of the Virgins., part 4. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Tis), 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:pg8122:11:6
# text = Tis a brother," they said, "of the fire in the talons of dreadful Wakínyan, [32] When he flaps his huge wings in his ire, and shoots his red shafts at Unktéhee."
1	Tis	Tis	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	brother	brother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	1	punct	_	_
6	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
7	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
9	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	fire	fire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	ccomp	_	_
13	in	in	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	talons	talon	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	nmod	_	_
16	of	of	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	dreadful	dreadful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	Wakínyan	Wakínyan	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	15	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
20	[	[	PUNCT	-LRB-	_	21	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	32	32	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	12	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	]	]	PUNCT	-RRB-	_	21	punct	_	_
23	When	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	25	mark	_	_
24	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
25	flaps	flap	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	ccomp	_	_
26	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	28	nmod:poss	_	_
27	huge	huge	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	amod	_	_
28	wings	wing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	obj	_	_
29	in	in	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	31	nmod:poss	_	_
31	ire	ire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
33	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
34	shoots	shoot	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
35	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	37	nmod:poss	_	_
36	red	red	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	37	amod	_	_
37	shafts	shaft	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	34	obj	_	_
38	at	at	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
39	Unktéhee	Unktéhee	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	34	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	34	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	34	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | past | Tis |  |  |  |  | Dakotas *= dakota* *nsubj*; the fire in the talons of dreadful Wakínyan *ccomp* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **flap** | present | Tis | esteem's huge wings |  |  |  | in esteem's ire | vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP PP.recipient PP.theme»: agent=Agent wing=Patient in ire=Topic |
| 3 | **shoot** | present | Tis *not said here* | esteem's red shafts |  | Unktéhee |  |  | vn throw-17.1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent shaft=Theme at unktéhee=Destination |

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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:** «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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