---
title: They hear the hoot of the mottled owl; They hear the were-wolf's [52… — Legends of the Northwest · tree and pragmatics
description: They hear the hoot of the mottled owl; They hear the were-wolf's [52] winding howl; But the swift Wiwâstè is far away. Who acts: hunters, swift, mottled owl. A sentence of «Legends of the Northwest» by Hanford Lennox Gordon, The Feast of the Virgins., part 1, with its dependency tree and the pragmat
---

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# Legends of the Northwest, The Feast of the Virgins., part 1, sentence 36

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They hear the hoot of the mottled owl; They hear the were-wolf's \[52\] winding howl; But the swift Wiwâstè is far away.

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**Who acts:** hunters, swift, mottled owl · **What happens:** hear, mottle, be, wind, hoot · **To what, where:** hoot, howl

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This is a sentence of «Legends of the Northwest» by Hanford Lennox Gordon, The Feast of the Virgins., part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (hunters, swift, mottled owl), 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:pg8122:8:36
# text = They hear the hoot of the mottled owl; They hear the were-wolf's [52] winding howl; But the swift Wiwâstè is far away.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	hear	hear	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	hoot	hoot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	mottled	mottle	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	amod	_	_
8	owl	owl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	11	punct	_	_
10	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
11	hear	hear	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
13	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	cop	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	15	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	wolf	wolf	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	's	's	PART	POS	_	15	case	_	_
17	[	[	PUNCT	-LRB-	_	18	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	52	52	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	15	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	]	]	PUNCT	-RRB-	_	18	punct	_	_
20	winding	wind	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	11	xcomp	_	_
21	howl	howl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	29	punct	_	_
23	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	swift	swift	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	nsubj	_	_
26	Wiwâstè	Wiwâstè	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	25	appos	_	_
27	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	29	cop	_	_
28	far	far	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	29	advmod	_	_
29	away	away	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hear** | present | hunters *= hunter* | the hoot of the mottled owl |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer hoot=Stimulus |
| 2 | **mottle** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn fill-9.8 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **hear** | present | hunters *= hunter* |  |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 4 | **is** | past |  |  |  |  |  | 's the wolf; 52 *appos* | tree rules |
| 5 | **wind** | gerund | hunters *= hunter* *not said here* | howl |  |  |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent howl=Theme |
| 6 | **is** | present | the swift |  |  |  |  | away, far *property* | tree rules |
| 7 | **hoot** |  | the mottled owl |  |  |  |  |  | nom hoot «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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