Hawaiian Historical Legends, Captain Cook, sentence 31
A certain priest, who was also a chief, said, “This is not an ordinary thing; it is a heiau [temple] of the god Lono, having steps going up into the clear sky, to the altars on the outside” (i.e., to the yards of the upper masts).
Who acts: certain priest, This, thing, heiau, steps · What happens: be, say, not be, have, go up · To what, where: chief, ordinary thing, heiau, steps, clear sky · Speech: someone speaks here
This is a sentence of «Hawaiian Historical Legends» by W. D. Westervelt, Captain Cook. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (certain priest, This, thing, heiau), 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 | A | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 3 priest | det |
| 2 | certain | certain | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 3 priest | amod |
| 3 | priest | priest | NOUN | Number=Sing | 11 said | nsubj |
| 4 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 9 chief | punct |
| 5 | who | who | PRON | PronType=Rel | 9 chief | nsubj |
| 6 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 9 chief | cop |
| 7 | also | also | ADV | _ | 9 chief | advmod |
| 8 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 9 chief | det |
| 9 | chief | chief | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 priest | appos |
| 10 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 3 priest | punct |
| 11 | said | say | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 12 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 19 thing | punct |
| 13 | “ | " | PUNCT | _ | 19 thing | punct |
| 14 | This | this | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 19 thing | nsubj |
| 15 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 19 thing | cop |
| 16 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 19 thing | advmod |
| 17 | an | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 19 thing | det |
| 18 | ordinary | ordinary | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 19 thing | amod |
| 19 | thing | thing | NOUN | Number=Sing | 11 said | ccomp |
| 20 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 24 heiau | punct |
| 21 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 24 heiau | nsubj |
| 22 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 24 heiau | cop |
| 23 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 24 heiau | det |
| 24 | heiau | heiau | NOUN | Number=Sing | 11 said | ccomp |
| 25 | [ | [ | PUNCT | _ | 26 temple | punct |
| 26 | temple | temple | NOUN | Number=Sing | 24 heiau | appos |
| 27 | ] | ] | PUNCT | _ | 26 temple | punct |
| 28 | of | of | ADP | _ | 30 god | case |
| 29 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 30 god | det |
| 30 | god | god | NOUN | Number=Sing | 24 heiau | nmod |
| 31 | Lono | Lono | PROPN | Number=Sing | 30 god | appos |
| 32 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 33 having | punct |
| 33 | having | have | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 24 heiau | acl |
| 34 | steps | step | NOUN | Number=Plur | 33 having | obj |
| 35 | going | go | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 34 steps | acl |
| 36 | up | up | ADV | _ | 35 going | advmod |
| 37 | into | into | ADP | _ | 40 sky | case |
| 38 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 40 sky | det |
| 39 | clear | clear | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 40 sky | amod |
| 40 | sky | sky | NOUN | Number=Sing | 35 going | obl |
| 41 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 44 altars | punct |
| 42 | to | to | ADP | _ | 44 altars | case |
| 43 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 44 altars | det |
| 44 | altars | altar | NOUN | Number=Plur | 33 having | obl |
| 45 | on | on | ADP | _ | 47 outside | case |
| 46 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 47 outside | det |
| 47 | outside | outside | NOUN | Number=Sing | 44 altars | nmod |
| 48 | ” | " | PUNCT | _ | 44 altars | punct |
| 49 | ( | ( | PUNCT | _ | 50 i.e. | punct |
| 50 | i.e. | i.e. | ADV | _ | 44 altars | conj |
| 51 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 54 yards | punct |
| 52 | to | to | ADP | _ | 54 yards | case |
| 53 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 54 yards | det |
| 54 | yards | yard | NOUN | Number=Plur | 33 having | obl |
| 55 | of | of | ADP | _ | 58 masts | case |
| 56 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 58 masts | det |
| 57 | upper | upper | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 58 masts | amod |
| 58 | masts | mast | NOUN | Number=Plur | 54 yards | nmod |
| 59 | ) | ) | PUNCT | _ | 58 masts | punct |
| 60 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 11 said | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is a | past | a certain priest | a chief | tree rules | ||||
| 2 | say speech: assert | past | a certain priest | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 3 | not is a in a quote | present | This | a ordinary thing | tree rules | ||||
| 4 | is a in a quote | present | thing | a heiau | of the god; temple appos | tree rules | |||
| 5 | have in a quote | gerund | a heiau not said here | steps | to the altars on the outside; to the yards of the upper masts | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent step=Patient | |||
| 6 | go up in a quote | gerund | steps not said here | the clear sky | vn calibratable_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |
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.
This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66357/12/31/