Hawaiian Historical Legends, Paao From Samoa, sentence 59
The battle was evidently fierce, for the legends say that some of the prophet friends who could not escape to their canoes, leaped from the precipitous cliffs to “fly” to the boats, and were dashed to pieces on the rocks below.
Who acts: battle, legends, some · What happens: be, say, not escape, leap, fly, dash · To what, where: canoes, precipitous cliffs, boats, rocks · Speech: someone speaks here
This is a sentence of «Hawaiian Historical Legends» by W. D. Westervelt, Paao From Samoa. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (battle, legends, some), 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 battle | det |
| 2 | battle | battle | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 fierce | nsubj |
| 3 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 fierce | cop |
| 4 | evidently | evidently | ADV | _ | 5 fierce | advmod |
| 5 | fierce | fierce | ADJ | Degree=Pos | root | root |
| 6 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 10 say | punct |
| 7 | for | for | SCONJ | _ | 10 say | mark |
| 8 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 9 legends | det |
| 9 | legends | legend | NOUN | Number=Plur | 10 say | nsubj |
| 10 | say | say | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 5 fierce | parataxis |
| 11 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 20 escape | mark |
| 12 | some | some | DET | PronType=Ind | 20 escape | nsubj |
| 13 | of | of | ADP | _ | 16 friends | case |
| 14 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 16 friends | det |
| 15 | prophet | prophet | NOUN | Number=Sing | 16 friends | compound |
| 16 | friends | friend | NOUN | Number=Plur | 12 some | nmod |
| 17 | who | who | PRON | PronType=Rel | 20 escape | nsubj |
| 18 | could | could | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 20 escape | aux |
| 19 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 20 escape | advmod |
| 20 | escape | escape | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 10 say | ccomp |
| 21 | to | to | ADP | _ | 23 canoes | case |
| 22 | their | their | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 23 canoes | nmod:poss |
| 23 | canoes | canoe | NOUN | Number=Plur | 20 escape | obl |
| 24 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 25 leaped | punct |
| 25 | leaped | leap | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 23 canoes | acl |
| 26 | from | from | ADP | _ | 29 cliffs | case |
| 27 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 29 cliffs | det |
| 28 | precipitous | precipitous | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 29 cliffs | amod |
| 29 | cliffs | cliff | NOUN | Number=Plur | 25 leaped | obl |
| 30 | to | to | ADP | _ | 32 fly | case |
| 31 | “ | " | PUNCT | _ | 32 fly | punct |
| 32 | fly | fly | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 25 leaped | advcl |
| 33 | ” | " | PUNCT | _ | 32 fly | punct |
| 34 | to | to | ADP | _ | 36 boats | case |
| 35 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 36 boats | det |
| 36 | boats | boat | NOUN | Number=Plur | 32 fly | obl |
| 37 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 40 dashed | punct |
| 38 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 40 dashed | cc |
| 39 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 40 dashed | aux:pass |
| 40 | dashed | dash | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 10 say | conj |
| 41 | to | to | ADP | _ | 42 pieces | case |
| 42 | pieces | piece | NOUN | Number=Plur | 40 dashed | obl |
| 43 | on | on | ADP | _ | 45 rocks | case |
| 44 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 45 rocks | det |
| 45 | rocks | rock | NOUN | Number=Plur | 40 dashed | obl |
| 46 | below | below | ADV | _ | 40 dashed | advmod |
| 47 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 5 fierce | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is | past | the battle | evidently, fierce property | tree rules | ||||
| 2 | say speech: assert | present | the legends | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | |||||
| 3 | not escape | could | some of the prophet friends | legends's canoes | who nsubj | vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme to canoe=Initial_Location | |||
| 4 | leap | participle | legends's canoes not said here | the precipitous cliffs | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme from cliff=Trajectory | ||||
| 5 | fly in a quote | infinitive | the boats | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme to boat=Destination | |||||
| 6 | dash | past · passive | the legends not said here | the rocks | to pieces; below property | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V PP.location»: to piece=Destination |
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/pg66357/8/59/