Hawaiian Historical Legends, Captain Cook, sentence 79
The chief said “it was like a heiau (temple) with steps going up to the altars, masts standing with branches spread out each side, and a long stick in front like the sharp nose of a swordfish, openings (portholes) in the side and openings behind.
Who acts: chief, thing, steps, masts, branches · What happens: say, be, go up, stand, spread out · To what, where: side · 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 (chief, thing, steps, masts), 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 | 2 chief | det |
| 2 | chief | chief | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 said | nsubj |
| 3 | said | say | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 4 | “ | " | PUNCT | _ | 9 heiau | punct |
| 5 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 9 heiau | nsubj |
| 6 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 9 heiau | cop |
| 7 | like | like | ADP | _ | 9 heiau | case |
| 8 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 9 heiau | det |
| 9 | heiau | heiau | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 said | ccomp |
| 10 | ( | ( | PUNCT | _ | 11 temple | punct |
| 11 | temple | temple | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 heiau | appos |
| 12 | ) | ) | PUNCT | _ | 11 temple | punct |
| 13 | with | with | ADP | _ | 14 steps | case |
| 14 | steps | step | NOUN | Number=Plur | 9 heiau | nmod |
| 15 | going | go | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 14 steps | acl |
| 16 | up | up | ADV | _ | 15 going | advmod |
| 17 | to | to | ADP | _ | 19 altars | case |
| 18 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 19 altars | det |
| 19 | altars | altar | NOUN | Number=Plur | 15 going | obl |
| 20 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 21 masts | punct |
| 21 | masts | mast | NOUN | Number=Plur | 14 steps | conj |
| 22 | standing | stand | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 21 masts | acl |
| 23 | with | with | ADP | _ | 24 branches | case |
| 24 | branches | branch | NOUN | Number=Plur | 22 standing | obl |
| 25 | spread | spread | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 24 branches | acl |
| 26 | out | out | ADP | _ | 25 spread | compound:prt |
| 27 | each | each | DET | PronType=Tot | 28 side | det |
| 28 | side | side | NOUN | Number=Sing | 25 spread | obl |
| 29 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 33 stick | punct |
| 30 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 33 stick | cc |
| 31 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 33 stick | det |
| 32 | long | long | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 33 stick | amod |
| 33 | stick | stick | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 heiau | conj |
| 34 | in | in | ADP | _ | 35 front | case |
| 35 | front | front | NOUN | Number=Sing | 33 stick | nmod |
| 36 | like | like | ADP | _ | 39 nose | case |
| 37 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 39 nose | det |
| 38 | sharp | sharp | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 39 nose | amod |
| 39 | nose | nose | NOUN | Number=Sing | 35 front | nmod |
| 40 | of | of | ADP | _ | 42 swordfish | case |
| 41 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 42 swordfish | det |
| 42 | swordfish | swordfish | NOUN | Number=Sing | 39 nose | nmod |
| 43 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 44 openings | punct |
| 44 | openings | opening | NOUN | Number=Plur | 33 stick | conj |
| 45 | ( | ( | PUNCT | _ | 46 portholes | punct |
| 46 | portholes | porthole | NOUN | Number=Plur | 44 openings | appos |
| 47 | ) | ) | PUNCT | _ | 46 portholes | punct |
| 48 | in | in | ADP | _ | 50 side | case |
| 49 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 50 side | det |
| 50 | side | side | NOUN | Number=Sing | 44 openings | nmod |
| 51 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 52 openings | cc |
| 52 | openings | opening | NOUN | Number=Plur | 50 side | conj |
| 53 | behind | behind | ADV | _ | 52 openings | advmod |
| 54 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 3 said | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | say speech: assert | past | the chief | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 2 | is in a quote | past | thing | like a heiau and a long stick in front like the sharp nose of a swordfish and openings in the side and openings; with steps and masts; temple appos; a long stick in front like the sharp nose of a swordfish and openings in the side and openings conj | tree rules | ||||
| 3 | go up in a quote | gerund | steps and masts not said here | to the altars | vn calibratable_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute | ||||
| 4 | stand in a quote | gerund | masts not said here | with branches | vn assuming_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 5 | spread out in a quote | participle | branches not said here | each side | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
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/pg66357/12/79/