---
title: [Footnote 56: The Ojibways imitate the hoot of the owl and the howl… — Legends of the Northwest · tree and pragmatics
description: [Footnote 56: The Ojibways imitate the hoot of the owl and the howl of the wolf to perfection, and often use these cries as signals to each other in war and the chase.] Who acts: Ojibways, owl, wolf. A sentence of «Legends of the Northwest» by Hanford Lennox Gordon, In the Measure of Hiawatha, part 
---

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# Legends of the Northwest, In the Measure of Hiawatha, part 4, sentence 17

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\[Footnote 56: The Ojibways imitate the hoot of the owl and the howl of the wolf to perfection, and often use these cries as signals to each other in war and the chase.\]

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**Who acts:** Ojibways, owl, wolf · **What happens:** imitate, use, hoot, howl · **To what, where:** hoot, cries, war, Footnote

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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 (Ojibways, owl, wolf), 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:pg8122:21:17
# text = [Footnote 56: The Ojibways imitate the hoot of the owl and the howl of the wolf to perfection, and often use these cries as signals to each other in war and the chase.]
1	[	[	PUNCT	-LRB-	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Footnote	footnote	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	56	56	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	2	flat	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	7	punct	_	_
5	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	Ojibways	ojibway	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj	_	_
7	imitate	imitate	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	hoot	hoot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	owl	owl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	howl	howl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	conj	_	_
16	of	of	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	wolf	wolf	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nmod	_	_
19	to	to	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
20	perfection	perfection	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
23	often	often	ADV	RB	_	24	advmod	_	_
24	use	use	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
25	these	this	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	26	det	_	_
26	cries	cry	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	24	obj	_	_
27	as	as	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
28	signals	signal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	24	obl	_	_
29	to	to	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
30	each	each	DET	DT	ExtPos=PRON|PronType=Rcp	24	obl	_	_
31	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	30	fixed	_	_
32	in	in	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
33	war	war	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obl	_	_
34	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	chase	chase	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	]	]	PUNCT	-RRB-	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **imitate** | present | the Ojibways | the hoot of the owl and the howl of the wolf to perfection |  |  |  |  | vn patent-101 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent hoot=Theme |
| 2 | **use** | present | the Ojibways *not said here* | this cries |  | war and the chase |  | as signals; to each; often *property* | vn spend\_time-104 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Agent cry=Duration as signal=Attribute |
| 4 | **hoot** |  | the owl and the howl of the wolf to perfection |  |  |  |  |  | nom hoot «communication intransitive»: of=agent |
| 5 | **howl** |  | the wolf to perfection |  |  |  |  |  | nom howl «communication intransitive»: of=agent |

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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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