---
title: The only names the Dakotas have for Lake Superior are Medé Tânka or… — Legends of the Northwest · tree and pragmatics
description: The only names the Dakotas have for Lake Superior are Medé Tânka or Tânka Medé--Great Lake, and Me-ne-yâ-ta--literally, _At-the-Water_.] Who acts: only, Dakotas. A sentence of «Legends of the Northwest» by Hanford Lennox Gordon, In the Measure of Hiawatha, part 3, with its dependency tree and the pr
---

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# Legends of the Northwest, In the Measure of Hiawatha, part 3, sentence 131

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The only names the Dakotas have for Lake Superior are Medé Tânka or Tânka Medé--Great Lake, and Me-ne-yâ-ta--literally, \_At-the-Water\_.\]

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**Who acts:** only, Dakotas · **What happens:** name, have, be · **To what, where:** Medé

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This is a sentence of «Legends of the Northwest» by Hanford Lennox Gordon, In the Measure of Hiawatha, 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 (only, Dakotas), 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:pg8122:20:131
# text = The only names the Dakotas have for Lake Superior are Medé Tânka or Tânka Medé--Great Lake, and Me-ne-yâ-ta--literally, _At-the-Water_.]
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	only	only	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	nsubj	_	_
3	names	name	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	Dakotas	dakota	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
6	have	have	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	ccomp	_	_
7	for	for	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	Lake	Lake	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
9	Superior	Superior	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	flat	_	_
10	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	cop	_	_
11	Medé	Medé	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	flat	_	_
12	Tânka	Tânka	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	flat	_	_
13	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
14	Tânka	Tânka	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	conj	_	_
15	Medé	Medé	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	14	flat	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	Great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	Lake	Lake	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
21	Me	Me	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	27	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	21	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	ne	ne	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	23	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	yâ	yâ	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	25	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	ta	ta	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	literally	literally	ADV	RB	_	27	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
31	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	36	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	At	at	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	32	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	34	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	Water	Water	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	27	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	36	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	27	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	]	]	PUNCT	-RRB-	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **name** | present | the only |  |  |  |  | for Lake or Tânka and Great Lake; Me yâ ta *parataxis* | tree rules |
| 2 | **have** | present | the Dakotas |  |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **is a** | present |  | Medé |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

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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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