---
title: Still afar on the waters the song, like bridal bells distantly chimi… — Legends of the Northwest · tree and pragmatics
description: Still afar on the waters the song, like bridal bells distantly chiming, The stout, jolly boatmen prolong, beating time with the stroke of their paddles; And Winona's ear, turned to the breeze, lists the air falling fainter and fainter Till it dies like the murmur of bees when the sun is aslant on th
---

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# Legends of the Northwest, The Feast of the Virgins., part 5, sentence 79

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Still afar on the waters the song, like bridal bells distantly chiming, The stout, jolly boatmen prolong, beating time with the stroke of their paddles; And Winona's ear, turned to the breeze, lists the air falling fainter and fainter Till it dies like the murmur of bees when the sun is aslant on the meadows.

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**Who acts:** bridal bells, jolly boatmen, ear, air, sun · **What happens:** chime, prolong, beat, turn, list, fall · **To what, where:** ear, breeze, air, meadows, paddles, bees

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This is a sentence of «Legends of the Northwest» by Hanford Lennox Gordon, The Feast of the Virgins., 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 (bridal bells, jolly boatmen, ear, air), 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:pg8122:12:80
# text = Still afar on the waters the song, like bridal bells distantly chiming, The stout, jolly boatmen prolong, beating time with the stroke of their paddles; And Winona's ear, turned to the breeze, lists the air falling fainter and fainter Till it dies like the murmur of bees when the sun is aslant on the meadows.
1	Still	still	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
2	afar	afar	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
3	on	on	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	waters	water	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	song	song	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
9	like	like	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	bridal	bridal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	bells	bell	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	appos	_	_
12	distantly	distantly	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
13	chiming	chime	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	11	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
15	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	stout	stout	ADJ	NN	Degree=Pos	7	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
18	jolly	jolly	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
19	boatmen	boatman	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	nsubj	_	_
20	prolong	prolong	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	16	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
22	beating	beat	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	20	advcl	_	_
23	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obj	_	_
24	with	with	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	stroke	stroke	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	_
27	of	of	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	29	nmod:poss	_	_
29	paddles	paddle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	26	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	41	punct	_	_
31	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	41	cc	_	_
32	Winona	Winona	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	34	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	's	's	PART	POS	_	32	case	_	_
34	ear	ear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
36	turned	turn	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	34	acl	_	_
37	to	to	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
38	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
39	breeze	breeze	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
41	lists	list	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
42	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	43	det	_	_
43	air	air	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	obj	_	_
44	falling	fall	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	43	acl	_	_
45	fainter	faint	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	44	xcomp	_	_
46	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	47	cc	_	_
47	fainter	faint	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	45	conj	_	_
48	Till	till	SCONJ	IN	_	50	mark	_	_
49	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	50	nsubj	_	_
50	dies	die	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	41	advcl	_	_
51	like	like	ADP	IN	_	53	case	_	_
52	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	53	det	_	_
53	murmur	murmur	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	50	obl	_	_
54	of	of	ADP	IN	_	55	case	_	_
55	bees	bee	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	53	nmod	_	_
56	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	60	advmod	_	_
57	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	58	det	_	_
58	sun	sun	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	60	nsubj	_	_
59	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	60	cop	_	_
60	aslant	aslant	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	55	acl	_	_
61	on	on	ADP	IN	_	63	case	_	_
62	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	63	det	_	_
63	meadows	meadow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	60	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
64	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **chime** | gerund | bridal bells *not said here* |  |  |  |  | distantly *property* | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **prolong** | present | jolly boatmen |  |  |  |  |  | vn sustain-55.6 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **beat** | gerund | jolly boatmen *not said here* |  |  |  | time | with the stroke of boatmen's paddles | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP.location V PP.theme»: agent=Location with stroke=Theme |
| 4 | **turn** | participle |  | Winona's ear *not said here* |  | the breeze |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V PP.trajectory»: agent=Theme to breeze=Trajectory |
| 5 | **list** | present | Winona's ear | the air |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **fall** | gerund | the air *not said here* |  |  |  |  | faint *property* | vn occur-48.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 7 | **die** | present | ear |  |  |  |  | like the murmur of bees | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |
| 8 | **is** | present | the sun |  |  | the meadows |  | aslant *property* | tree rules |
| 10 | **stroke** |  |  | boatmen's paddles |  |  |  |  | nom stroke «act transitive»: of=patient |
| 11 | **murmur** |  |  | bees |  |  |  |  | nom murmur «event transitive»: of=patient |

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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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