Hawaiian Historical Legends, King Kahahana, About 1773, sentence 32
When the Oahu priests in the heiaus on the slopes of Leahi or Diamond Head saw the fleet of canoes coming from Maui, swift runners were despatched to all the high chiefs of the island that they might assemble at Waikiki and give welcome to their new king.
Who acts: Oahu priests, canoes, high chiefs, runners · What happens: see, come, despatch, assemble, give · To what, where: fleet, Maui, swift runners, Waikiki
This is a sentence of «Hawaiian Historical Legends» by W. D. Westervelt, King Kahahana, About 1773. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Oahu priests, canoes, high chiefs, runners), 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 | When | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 16 saw | advmod |
| 2 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 4 priests | det |
| 3 | Oahu | Oahu | PROPN | Number=Sing | 4 priests | compound |
| 4 | priests | priest | NOUN | Number=Plur | 16 saw | nsubj |
| 5 | in | in | ADP | _ | 7 heiaus | case |
| 6 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 7 heiaus | det |
| 7 | heiaus | heiaus | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 priests | nmod |
| 8 | on | on | ADP | _ | 10 slopes | case |
| 9 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 10 slopes | det |
| 10 | slopes | slope | NOUN | Number=Plur | 7 heiaus | nmod |
| 11 | of | of | ADP | _ | 12 Leahi | case |
| 12 | Leahi | Leahi | PROPN | Number=Sing | 10 slopes | nmod |
| 13 | or | or | CCONJ | _ | 14 Diamond | cc |
| 14 | Diamond | Diamond | PROPN | Number=Sing | 12 Leahi | conj |
| 15 | Head | Head | PROPN | Number=Sing | 14 Diamond | flat |
| 16 | saw | see | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 17 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 18 fleet | det |
| 18 | fleet | fleet | NOUN | Number=Sing | 16 saw | obj |
| 19 | of | of | ADP | _ | 20 canoes | case |
| 20 | canoes | canoe | NOUN | Number=Plur | 18 fleet | nmod |
| 21 | coming | come | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 20 canoes | acl |
| 22 | from | from | ADP | _ | 23 Maui | case |
| 23 | Maui | Maui | PROPN | Number=Sing | 21 coming | obl |
| 24 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 28 despatched | punct |
| 25 | swift | swift | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 26 runners | amod |
| 26 | runners | runner | NOUN | Number=Plur | 28 despatched | nsubj |
| 27 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 28 despatched | aux:pass |
| 28 | despatched | despatch | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 16 saw | conj |
| 29 | to | to | ADP | _ | 33 chiefs | case |
| 30 | all | all | DET | PronType=Tot | 33 chiefs | det:predet |
| 31 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 33 chiefs | det |
| 32 | high | high | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 33 chiefs | amod |
| 33 | chiefs | chief | NOUN | Number=Plur | 28 despatched | obl:agent |
| 34 | of | of | ADP | _ | 36 island | case |
| 35 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 36 island | det |
| 36 | island | island | NOUN | Number=Sing | 33 chiefs | nmod |
| 37 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 40 assemble | mark |
| 38 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 40 assemble | nsubj |
| 39 | might | might | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 40 assemble | aux |
| 40 | assemble | assemble | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 28 despatched | advcl |
| 41 | at | at | ADP | _ | 42 Waikiki | case |
| 42 | Waikiki | Waikiki | PROPN | Number=Sing | 40 assemble | obl |
| 43 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 44 give | cc |
| 44 | give | give | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 40 assemble | conj |
| 45 | welcome | welcome | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 44 give | xcomp |
| 46 | to | to | ADP | _ | 49 king | case |
| 47 | their | their | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 49 king | nmod:poss |
| 48 | new | new | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 49 king | amod |
| 49 | king | king | NOUN | Number=Sing | 45 welcome | obl |
| 50 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 16 saw | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | see | past | the Oahu priests in the heiaus on the slopes of Leahi or Diamond | the fleet of canoes | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer fleet=Stimulus | ||||
| 2 | come | gerund | canoes not said here | Maui | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme from maui=Initial_Location | ||||
| 3 | despatch | past · passive | all high chiefs of the island | swift runners | tree rules | ||||
| 4 | assemble | might | runners = runner | Waikiki | vn herd-47.5.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 5 | give | infinitive | runners = runner not said here | welcome property | vn break_down-45.8 «NP V»: agent=Patient |
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/pg66357/13/32/