--- title: There being no name for the Supreme Being in the Dakota tongue (exce… — Legends of the Northwest · tree and pragmatics description: There being no name for the Supreme Being in the Dakota tongue (except Tá-ku Wakan--See note 73)--and all their gods and spirits being Wakan--the missionaries named God in Dakota--"_Wakan Tanka_"--which means _Big Spirit_, or _The Big Mysterious_.] Who acts: Supreme, gods, Tá. A sentence of «Legends --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8122/21/142/) [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/) / [In the Measure of Hiawatha, part 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8122/21/) / 142 # Legends of the Northwest, In the Measure of Hiawatha, part 4, sentence 142 There being no name for the Supreme Being in the Dakota tongue (except Tá-ku Wakan--See note 73)--and all their gods and spirits being Wakan--the missionaries named God in Dakota--"\_Wakan Tanka\_"--which means \_Big Spirit\_, or \_The Big Mysterious\_.\] **Who acts:** Supreme, gods, Tá · **What happens:** be, name, mean · **To what, where:** name, Wakan, missionaries, Dakota, Big Spirit, There This is a sentence of «Legends of the Northwest» by Hanford Lennox Gordon, In the Measure of Hiawatha, 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 (Supreme, gods, Tá), 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:pg8122:21:142 # text = There being no name for the Supreme Being in the Dakota tongue (except Tá-ku Wakan--See note 73)--and all their gods and spirits being Wakan--the missionaries named God in Dakota--"_Wakan Tanka_"--which means _Big Spirit_, or _The Big Mysterious_.] 1 There there PRON EX PronType=Dem 0 root _ _ 2 being be AUX VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 4 cop _ _ 3 no no DET DT PronType=Neg 4 det _ _ 4 name name NOUN NN Number=Sing 1 obl _ _ 5 for for ADP IN _ 12 case _ _ 6 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 7 det _ _ 7 Supreme Supreme ADJ NNP Degree=Pos 12 nsubj _ _ 8 Being be AUX VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 12 cop _ _ 9 in in ADP IN _ 12 case _ _ 10 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 12 det _ _ 11 Dakota Dakota PROPN NNP Number=Sing 12 compound _ _ 12 tongue tongue NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 nmod _ _ 13 ( ( PUNCT -LRB- _ 15 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 14 except except ADP IN _ 15 case _ _ 15 Tá Tá PROPN NNP Number=Sing 12 appos _ SpaceAfter=No 16 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 15 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 17 ku ku X FW Foreign=Yes 18 advmod _ _ 18 Wakan Wakan PROPN NNP Number=Sing 15 flat _ SpaceAfter=No 19 -- -- PUNCT , _ 21 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 20 See see ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 21 amod _ _ 21 note note NOUN NN Number=Sing 15 appos _ _ 22 73 73 NUM CD NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card 21 flat _ SpaceAfter=No 23 ) ) PUNCT -RRB- _ 22 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 24 -- -- PUNCT , _ 32 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 25 and and CCONJ CC _ 32 cc _ _ 26 all all DET PDT PronType=Tot 28 det:predet _ _ 27 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 28 nmod:poss _ _ 28 gods god NOUN NNS Number=Plur 32 nsubj _ _ 29 and and CCONJ CC _ 30 cc _ _ 30 spirits spirit NOUN NNS Number=Plur 28 conj _ _ 31 being be AUX VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 32 cop _ _ 32 Wakan Wakan PROPN NNP Number=Sing 15 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 33 -- -- PUNCT , _ 35 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 34 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 35 det _ _ 35 missionaries missionary NOUN NNS Number=Plur 15 conj _ _ 36 named name VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 35 acl _ _ 37 God God PROPN NNP Number=Sing 36 xcomp _ _ 38 in in ADP IN _ 39 case _ _ 39 Dakota Dakota PROPN NNP Number=Sing 36 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 40 -- -- PUNCT , _ 44 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 41 " " PUNCT `` _ 44 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 42 _ _ PUNCT NFP _ 44 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 43 Wakan Wakan PROPN NNP Number=Sing 44 compound _ _ 44 Tanka Tanka PROPN NNP Number=Sing 15 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 45 _ _ PUNCT NFP _ 15 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 46 " " PUNCT '' _ 15 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 47 -- -- PUNCT , _ 49 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 48 which which PRON WDT PronType=Rel 49 nsubj _ _ 49 means mean VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 15 parataxis _ _ 50 _ _ PUNCT NFP _ 52 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 51 Big Big PROPN NNP Number=Sing 52 flat _ _ 52 Spirit Spirit PROPN NNP Number=Sing 49 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 53 _ _ PUNCT NFP _ 52 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 54 , , PUNCT , _ 59 punct _ _ 55 or or CCONJ CC _ 59 cc _ _ 56 _ _ PUNCT NFP _ 55 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 57 The the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 59 det _ _ 58 Big Big PROPN NNP Number=Sing 59 flat _ _ 59 Mysterious Mysterious PROPN NNP Number=Sing 49 parataxis _ SpaceAfter=No 60 _ _ PUNCT NFP _ 59 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 61 . . PUNCT . _ 15 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 62 ] ] PUNCT -RRB- _ 15 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is a** | gerund | | no name | | | | | tree rules | | 2 | **is** | gerund | the Supreme | | | | | for the Dakota tongue; Tá and Wakan and the missionaries and Wakan Tanka *appos* | tree rules | | 3 | **is a** | gerund | Tá's gods and spirits | Wakan | | | | | tree rules | | 4 | **name** | participle | | the missionaries *not said here* | | Dakota | | God *xcomp* | vn appoint-29.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | | 5 | **mean** | present | Tá and Wakan and the missionaries and Wakan Tanka | Big Spirit | | | | the Big Mysterious *parataxis* | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent spirit=Topic | 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 141](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8122/21/141/) - next →: [sentence 143](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8122/21/143/) - ↑ back to [In the Measure of Hiawatha, part 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8122/21/)