---
title: Each feather worn by a warrior represents an enemy slain or captured… — Legends of the Northwest · tree and pragmatics
description: Each feather worn by a warrior represents an enemy slain or captured--man, woman or child; but the Dakotas, before they became desperate under the cruel warfare of their enemies, generally spared the lives of their captives, and never killed women or infants, except in rare instances, under the _lex
---

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# Legends of the Northwest, In the Measure of Hiawatha, part 3, sentence 51

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Each feather worn by a warrior represents an enemy slain or captured--man, woman or child; but the Dakotas, before they became desperate under the cruel warfare of their enemies, generally spared the lives of their captives, and never killed women or infants, except in rare instances, under the \_lex talionis\_.

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**Who acts:** feather, feathers · **What happens:** wear, represent, slay, capture, become, spare · **To what, where:** feather, enemy, Dakotas, lives, women

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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 (feather, feathers), 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:pg8122:20:51
# text = Each feather worn by a warrior represents an enemy slain or captured--man, woman or child; but the Dakotas, before they became desperate under the cruel warfare of their enemies, generally spared the lives of their captives, and never killed women or infants, except in rare instances, under the _lex talionis_.
1	Each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	2	det	_	_
2	feather	feather	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
3	worn	wear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	acl	_	_
4	by	by	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	warrior	warrior	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
7	represents	represent	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	enemy	enemy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
10	slain	slay	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	9	acl	_	_
11	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
12	captured	capture	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	10	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
16	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	appos	_	_
17	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
18	child	child	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	22	punct	_	_
20	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	Dakotas	Dakotas	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
24	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	26	mark	_	_
25	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
26	became	become	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	acl:relcl	_	_
27	desperate	desperate	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	xcomp	_	_
28	under	under	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
30	cruel	cruel	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	31	amod	_	_
31	warfare	warfare	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	_
32	of	of	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
33	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	34	nmod:poss	_	_
34	enemies	enemy	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	31	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
36	generally	generally	ADV	RB	_	37	advmod	_	_
37	spared	spare	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	conj	_	_
38	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
39	lives	life	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	37	obj	_	_
40	of	of	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
41	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	42	nmod:poss	_	_
42	captives	captive	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	39	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	46	punct	_	_
44	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	46	cc	_	_
45	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	46	advmod	_	_
46	killed	kill	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	37	conj	_	_
47	women	woman	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	46	obj	_	_
48	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	49	cc	_	_
49	infants	infant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	47	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	54	punct	_	_
51	except	except	ADP	IN	_	54	case	_	_
52	in	in	ADP	IN	_	54	case	_	_
53	rare	rare	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	54	amod	_	_
54	instances	instance	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	46	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
55	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	60	punct	_	_
56	under	under	ADP	IN	_	60	case	_	_
57	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	60	det	_	_
58	_	_	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	60	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
59	lex	lex	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	60	compound	_	_
60	talionis	talionis	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	54	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
61	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	54	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
62	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **wear** | participle |  | each feather *not said here* |  |  |  | by a warrior | vn wipe\_manner-10.4.1-1 «NP V PP-Conative»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **represent** | present | each feather | a enemy and man |  |  |  | the Dakotas *obl* | vn representation-110.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot enemy=Theme |
| 3 | **slay** | participle |  | a enemy and man *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn murder-42.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **capture** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn steal-10.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **become** | past | feathers *= feather* | the Dakotas *not said here* |  |  |  | desperate *property* | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Patient dakotas=Result |
| 6 | **spare** | past | feathers *= feather* *not said here* | the lives of feathers's captives |  |  |  | generally *property* | vn bill-54.5 «NP V NP NP.asset»: agent=Agent life=Asset |
| 7 | **not** **kill** | past | feathers *= feather* *not said here* | women or infants |  |  |  | except rare instances and the \_ lex talionis | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent woman=Theme |

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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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