Hawaiian Historical Legends, First Foreigners, sentence 56
The great mountains upon these islands did not rise in sharp peaks, but spread out like a high tableland in the clouds, hence he also called the islands “Isles de Mesa,” the Mesa Islands or the Table Lands.
Who acts: great mountains, Gaetano · What happens: not rise, spread out, call · To what, where: sharp peaks, clouds, islands · Speech: someone speaks here
This is a sentence of «Hawaiian Historical Legends» by W. D. Westervelt, First Foreigners. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (great mountains, Gaetano), 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
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 3 mountains | det |
| 2 | great | great | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 3 mountains | amod |
| 3 | mountains | mountain | NOUN | Number=Plur | 9 rise | nsubj |
| 4 | upon | upon | ADP | _ | 6 islands | case |
| 5 | these | this | DET | Number=Plur PronType=Dem | 6 islands | det |
| 6 | islands | island | NOUN | Number=Plur | 3 mountains | nmod |
| 7 | did | do | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 9 rise | aux |
| 8 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 9 rise | advmod |
| 9 | rise | rise | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | root | root |
| 10 | in | in | ADP | _ | 12 peaks | case |
| 11 | sharp | sharp | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 12 peaks | amod |
| 12 | peaks | peak | NOUN | Number=Plur | 9 rise | obl |
| 13 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 15 spread | punct |
| 14 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 15 spread | cc |
| 15 | spread | spread | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 9 rise | conj |
| 16 | out | out | ADP | _ | 15 spread | compound:prt |
| 17 | like | like | ADP | _ | 20 tableland | case |
| 18 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 20 tableland | det |
| 19 | high | high | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 20 tableland | amod |
| 20 | tableland | tableland | NOUN | Number=Sing | 15 spread | obl |
| 21 | in | in | ADP | _ | 23 clouds | case |
| 22 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 23 clouds | det |
| 23 | clouds | cloud | NOUN | Number=Plur | 15 spread | obl |
| 24 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 28 called | punct |
| 25 | hence | hence | ADV | _ | 28 called | advmod |
| 26 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 28 called | nsubj |
| 27 | also | also | ADV | _ | 28 called | advmod |
| 28 | called | call | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 9 rise | parataxis |
| 29 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 30 islands | det |
| 30 | islands | island | NOUN | Number=Plur | 28 called | obj |
| 31 | “ | " | PUNCT | _ | 32 Isles | punct |
| 32 | Isles | isle | NOUN | Number=Plur | 28 called | xcomp |
| 33 | de | de | ADP | _ | 34 Mesa | case |
| 34 | Mesa | Mesa | PROPN | Number=Sing | 32 Isles | nmod |
| 35 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 39 Islands | punct |
| 36 | ” | " | PUNCT | _ | 39 Islands | punct |
| 37 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 39 Islands | det |
| 38 | Mesa | Mesa | PROPN | Number=Sing | 39 Islands | compound |
| 39 | Islands | Island | PROPN | Number=Plur | 28 called | obl |
| 40 | or | or | CCONJ | _ | 43 Lands | cc |
| 41 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 43 Lands | det |
| 42 | Table | Table | PROPN | Number=Sing | 43 Lands | compound |
| 43 | Lands | Land | PROPN | Number=Plur | 39 Islands | conj |
| 44 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 9 rise | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | not rise | past · do-support | the great mountains upon this islands | sharp peaks | vn assuming_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent in peak=Location | ||||
| 2 | spread out | past | the great mountains upon this islands not said here | the clouds | like a high tableland | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in cloud=Location | |||
| 3 | call | past | Gaetano | the islands | the Mesa Islands or the Table Lands obl; Isles de Mesa xcomp; hence property | vn initiate_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent island=Recipient |
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: «Hawaiian Historical Legends» by W. D. Westervelt, Project Gutenberg book 66357 (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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