---
title: The robin sings to his ruddy mate, And the chattering jays, in the w… — Legends of the Northwest · tree and pragmatics
description: The robin sings to his ruddy mate, And the chattering jays, in the winter weather, To prate and gossip will congregate; And the cawing crows on the autumn heather, Like evil omens, will flock together, In extra-session, for high debate; And the lass will slip from a doting mother To hang with her la
---

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# Legends of the Northwest, Heyóka Wacípee \[16\]--the Giant's Dance., sentence 142

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The robin sings to his ruddy mate, And the chattering jays, in the winter weather, To prate and gossip will congregate; And the cawing crows on the autumn heather, Like evil omens, will flock together, In extra-session, for high debate; And the lass will slip from a doting mother To hang with her lad on the garden gate.

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**Who acts:** robin, gossip, cawing, lass · **What happens:** sing, prate, congregate, crow, flock together, slip · **To what, where:** chattering jays, ruddy mate, autumn heather, extra session, garden gate

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This is a sentence of «Legends of the Northwest» by Hanford Lennox Gordon, Heyóka Wacípee \[16\]--the Giant's Dance.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (robin, gossip, cawing, lass), 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:pg8122:7:142
# text = The robin sings to his ruddy mate, And the chattering jays, in the winter weather, To prate and gossip will congregate; And the cawing crows on the autumn heather, Like evil omens, will flock together, In extra-session, for high debate; And the lass will slip from a doting mother To hang with her lad on the garden gate.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	robin	robin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	sings	sing	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
6	ruddy	ruddy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	mate	mate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
9	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	chattering	chattering	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	compound	_	_
12	jays	jay	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
14	in	in	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
16	winter	winter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	compound	_	_
17	weather	weather	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
19	To	to	PART	TO	_	20	mark	_	_
20	prate	prate	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	17	parataxis	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
22	gossip	gossip	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	nsubj	_	_
23	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	24	aux	_	_
24	congregate	congregate	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
26	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	cawing	cawing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	nsubj	_	_
29	crows	crow	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
30	on	on	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
32	autumn	autumn	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	compound	_	_
33	heather	heather	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
35	Like	like	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
36	evil	evil	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	37	amod	_	_
37	omens	omen	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	40	punct	_	_
39	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	40	aux	_	_
40	flock	flock	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	29	conj	_	_
41	together	together	ADV	RB	_	40	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	46	punct	_	_
43	In	in	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
44	extra	extra	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	46	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	44	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	session	session	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	50	punct	_	_
48	for	for	ADP	IN	_	50	case	_	_
49	high	high	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	50	amod	_	_
50	debate	debate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	46	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	56	punct	_	_
52	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	56	cc	_	_
53	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	54	det	_	_
54	lass	lass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	56	nsubj	_	_
55	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	56	aux	_	_
56	slip	slip	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	parataxis	_	_
57	from	from	ADP	IN	_	60	case	_	_
58	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	60	det	_	_
59	doting	doting	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	60	compound	_	_
60	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	56	obl	_	_
61	To	to	PART	TO	_	62	mark	_	_
62	hang	hang	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	56	advcl	_	_
63	with	with	ADP	IN	_	65	case	_	_
64	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	65	nmod:poss	_	_
65	lad	lad	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	62	obl	_	_
66	on	on	ADP	IN	_	69	case	_	_
67	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	69	det	_	_
68	garden	garden	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	69	compound	_	_
69	gate	gate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	62	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
70	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sing** *speech: express* | present | the robin | the chattering jays and the winter weather | robin's ruddy mate |  |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V PP.recipient»: agent=Agent to mate=Recipient |
| 2 | **prate** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **congregate** | future | gossip |  |  |  |  |  | vn herd-47.5.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **crow** | present | the cawing |  |  | the autumn heather |  | like evil omens | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **flock together** | future | the cawing *not said here* |  |  | extra session and high debate |  | together *property* | vn herd-47.5.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **slip** | future | the lass |  |  |  |  | from a doting mother | vn split-23.2 «NP V PP.co-patient»: agent=Patient from mother=Co-Patient |
| 7 | **hang** | to-infinitive | the lass *not said here* |  |  | the garden gate |  | with lass's lad | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on gate=Location |

<!-- .note -->
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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