--- title: More than a century ago an English trader was killed at Mendota, bec… — Legends of the Northwest · tree and pragmatics description: More than a century ago an English trader was killed at Mendota, because he persisted, after repeated warnings by the chiefs, in dealing out _mini-wakan_ (Devil-water) to the Dakota braves. Who acts: Mendota, chiefs. A sentence of «Legends of the Northwest» by Hanford Lennox Gordon, The Sea-gull, th --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8122/2/17/) [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/) / [Legends of the Northwest](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8122/) / [The Sea-gull, the Ojibwa Legend of the…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8122/2/) / 17 # Legends of the Northwest, The Sea-gull, the Ojibwa Legend of the Pictured Rocks of Lake Superior., sentence 17 More than a century ago an English trader was killed at Mendota, because he persisted, after repeated warnings by the chiefs, in dealing out \_mini-wakan\_ (Devil-water) to the Dakota braves. **Who acts:** Mendota, chiefs · **What happens:** kill, persist, repeat, deal out, warn · **To what, where:** English trader, Mendota, repeated warnings, mini wakan, Dakota braves This is a sentence of «Legends of the Northwest» by Hanford Lennox Gordon, The Sea-gull, the Ojibwa Legend of the Pictured Rocks of Lake Superior.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Mendota, chiefs), 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:pg8122:2:18 # text = More than a century ago an English trader was killed at Mendota, because he persisted, after repeated warnings by the chiefs, in dealing out _mini-wakan_ (Devil-water) to the Dakota braves. 1 More more ADJ JJR Degree=Cmp 5 advmod _ _ 2 than than ADP IN _ 4 case _ _ 3 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 4 det _ _ 4 century century NOUN NN Number=Sing 1 obl _ _ 5 ago ago ADV RB _ 10 advmod _ _ 6 an a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 8 det _ _ 7 English English ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 8 amod _ _ 8 trader trader NOUN NN Number=Sing 10 nsubj:pass _ _ 9 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 10 aux:pass _ _ 10 killed kill VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 0 root _ _ 11 at at ADP IN _ 12 case _ _ 12 Mendota Mendota PROPN NNP Number=Sing 10 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 13 , , PUNCT , _ 16 punct _ _ 14 because because SCONJ IN _ 16 mark _ _ 15 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 16 nsubj _ _ 16 persisted persist VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 10 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 17 , , PUNCT , _ 20 punct _ _ 18 after after ADP IN _ 20 case _ _ 19 repeated repeat VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 20 amod _ _ 20 warnings warning NOUN NNS Number=Plur 16 obj _ _ 21 by by ADP IN _ 23 case _ _ 22 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 23 det _ _ 23 chiefs chief NOUN NNS Number=Plur 20 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 24 , , PUNCT , _ 26 punct _ _ 25 in in SCONJ IN _ 26 mark _ _ 26 dealing deal VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 16 advcl _ _ 27 out out ADP RP _ 26 compound:prt _ _ 28 _ _ PUNCT NFP _ 31 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 29 mini mini ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 31 amod _ SpaceAfter=No 30 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 29 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 31 wakan wakan X FW Foreign=Yes 26 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 32 _ _ PUNCT NFP _ 31 punct _ _ 33 ( ( PUNCT -LRB- _ 36 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 34 Devil Devil PROPN NNP Number=Sing 36 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 35 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 34 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 36 water water NOUN NN Number=Sing 31 appos _ SpaceAfter=No 37 ) ) PUNCT -RRB- _ 36 punct _ _ 38 to to ADP IN _ 41 case _ _ 39 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 41 det _ _ 40 Dakota Dakota PROPN NNP Number=Sing 41 compound _ _ 41 braves brave NOUN NNS Number=Plur 26 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 42 . . PUNCT . _ 10 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **kill** | past · passive | | a English trader | | Mendota | | ago *property* | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme | | 2 | **persist** | past | Mendota | repeated warnings | | | | by the chiefs | tree rules | | 3 | **repeat** | participle | | | | | | | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality | | 4 | **deal out** | gerund | Mendota *not said here* | mini wakan | the Dakota braves | | | | vn give-13.1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent wakan=Theme to brave=Recipient | | 5 | **warn** | | the chiefs | | | | | | nom warning «communication transitive»: by=agent | 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:** «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. - ← previous: [sentence 16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8122/2/16/) - next →: [sentence 18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8122/2/18/) - ↑ back to [The Sea-gull, the Ojibwa Legend of the Pictured Rocks of Lake Superior.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8122/2/)