Hawaiian Historical Legends, The Law of the Splintered Paddle, sentence 46
He was over six feet in height, strong and sinewy, excelling all other chiefs in athletic exercises, cruel to enemies, ruling his own household with a rod of iron, generous and brave among his friends, and filled with a fatalistic belief in his own destiny.
Who acts: friend, six feet · What happens: be, excel, rule, fill · To what, where: six feet, height, other chiefs, athletic exercises, own household
This is a sentence of «Hawaiian Historical Legends» by W. D. Westervelt, The Law of the Splintered Paddle. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (friend, six feet), 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 | He | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 5 feet | nsubj |
| 2 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 feet | cop |
| 3 | over | over | ADV | _ | 4 six | advmod |
| 4 | six | six | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 5 feet | nummod |
| 5 | feet | foot | NOUN | Number=Plur | root | root |
| 6 | in | in | ADP | _ | 7 height | case |
| 7 | height | height | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 feet | nmod |
| 8 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 9 strong | punct |
| 9 | strong | strong | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 7 height | amod |
| 10 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 11 sinewy | cc |
| 11 | sinewy | sinewy | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 9 strong | conj |
| 12 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 13 excelling | punct |
| 13 | excelling | excel | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 5 feet | acl |
| 14 | all | all | DET | PronType=Tot | 16 chiefs | det |
| 15 | other | other | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 16 chiefs | amod |
| 16 | chiefs | chief | NOUN | Number=Plur | 13 excelling | obj |
| 17 | in | in | ADP | _ | 19 exercises | case |
| 18 | athletic | athletic | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 19 exercises | amod |
| 19 | exercises | exercise | NOUN | Number=Plur | 13 excelling | obl |
| 20 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 21 cruel | punct |
| 21 | cruel | cruel | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 19 exercises | amod |
| 22 | to | to | ADP | _ | 23 enemies | case |
| 23 | enemies | enemy | NOUN | Number=Plur | 21 cruel | obl |
| 24 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 25 ruling | punct |
| 25 | ruling | rule | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 13 excelling | conj |
| 26 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 28 household | nmod:poss |
| 27 | own | own | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 28 household | amod |
| 28 | household | household | NOUN | Number=Sing | 25 ruling | obj |
| 29 | with | with | ADP | _ | 31 rod | case |
| 30 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 31 rod | det |
| 31 | rod | rod | NOUN | Number=Sing | 25 ruling | obl |
| 32 | of | of | ADP | _ | 33 iron | case |
| 33 | iron | iron | NOUN | Number=Sing | 31 rod | nmod |
| 34 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 35 generous | punct |
| 35 | generous | generous | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 33 iron | amod |
| 36 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 37 brave | cc |
| 37 | brave | brave | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 35 generous | conj |
| 38 | among | among | ADP | _ | 40 friends | case |
| 39 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 40 friends | nmod:poss |
| 40 | friends | friend | NOUN | Number=Plur | 37 brave | obl |
| 41 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 43 filled | punct |
| 42 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 43 filled | cc |
| 43 | filled | fill | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 5 feet | acl |
| 44 | with | with | ADP | _ | 47 belief | case |
| 45 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 47 belief | det |
| 46 | fatalistic | fatalistic | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 47 belief | amod |
| 47 | belief | belief | NOUN | Number=Sing | 43 filled | obl |
| 48 | in | in | ADP | _ | 51 destiny | case |
| 49 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 51 destiny | nmod:poss |
| 50 | own | own | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 51 destiny | amod |
| 51 | destiny | destiny | NOUN | Number=Sing | 47 belief | nmod |
| 52 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 5 feet | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is a | past | friend | six feet | height | tree rules | |||
| 2 | excel | gerund | six feet not said here | all other chiefs | athletic exercises | tree rules | |||
| 3 | rule | gerund | six feet not said here | friend's own household | with a rod of iron | vn dub-29.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent household=Theme | |||
| 4 | fill | participle | six feet not said here | with a fatalistic belief in friend's own destiny | vn other_cos-45.4 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent with belief=Instrument |
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/pg66357/18/46/