Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury, New Zealand, “the Crest of the Rainbow.”, sentence 29
There is a thick growth of flax on the little terraces and steep slopes above the bush, and in one place we force our way through a regular jungle of it, growing so thickly as almost to encourage the idea that a flax-mill would find profitable business here.
Who acts: thick growth, we, flax mill, flax · What happens: be, force, grow, encourage, find · To what, where: way, one place, idea, profitable business
This is a sentence of «Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury, New Zealand» by James Cowan, “the Crest of the Rainbow.”. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (thick growth, we, flax mill, flax), 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 | There | there | PRON | PronType=Dem | 2 is | expl |
| 2 | is | be | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 3 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 5 growth | det |
| 4 | thick | thick | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 5 growth | amod |
| 5 | growth | growth | NOUN | Number=Sing | 2 is | nsubj |
| 6 | of | of | ADP | _ | 7 flax | case |
| 7 | flax | flax | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 growth | nmod |
| 8 | on | on | ADP | _ | 11 terraces | case |
| 9 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 11 terraces | det |
| 10 | little | little | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 11 terraces | amod |
| 11 | terraces | terrace | NOUN | Number=Plur | 7 flax | nmod |
| 12 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 14 slopes | cc |
| 13 | steep | steep | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 14 slopes | amod |
| 14 | slopes | slope | NOUN | Number=Plur | 11 terraces | conj |
| 15 | above | above | ADP | _ | 17 bush | case |
| 16 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 17 bush | det |
| 17 | bush | bush | NOUN | Number=Sing | 14 slopes | nmod |
| 18 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 24 force | punct |
| 19 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 24 force | cc |
| 20 | in | in | ADP | _ | 22 place | case |
| 21 | one | one | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 22 place | nummod |
| 22 | place | place | NOUN | Number=Sing | 24 force | obl |
| 23 | we | we | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=1 PronType=Prs | 24 force | nsubj |
| 24 | force | force | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=1 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 2 is | parataxis |
| 25 | our | our | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=1 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 26 way | nmod:poss |
| 26 | way | way | NOUN | Number=Sing | 24 force | obj |
| 27 | through | through | ADP | _ | 30 jungle | case |
| 28 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 30 jungle | det |
| 29 | regular | regular | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 30 jungle | amod |
| 30 | jungle | jungle | NOUN | Number=Sing | 24 force | obl |
| 31 | of | of | ADP | _ | 32 it | case |
| 32 | it | it | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 30 jungle | nmod |
| 33 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 34 growing | punct |
| 34 | growing | grow | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 24 force | advcl |
| 35 | so | so | ADV | _ | 36 thickly | advmod |
| 36 | thickly | thickly | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 34 growing | xcomp |
| 37 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 40 encourage | mark |
| 38 | almost | almost | ADV | _ | 40 encourage | advmod |
| 39 | to | to | PART | _ | 40 encourage | mark |
| 40 | encourage | encourage | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 36 thickly | advcl |
| 41 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 42 idea | det |
| 42 | idea | idea | NOUN | Number=Sing | 40 encourage | obj |
| 43 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 49 find | mark |
| 44 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 47 mill | det |
| 45 | flax | flax | NOUN | Number=Sing | 47 mill | compound |
| 46 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 45 flax | punct |
| 47 | mill | mill | NOUN | _ | 49 find | nsubj |
| 48 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 49 find | aux |
| 49 | find | find | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 42 idea | acl |
| 50 | profitable | profitable | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 51 business | amod |
| 51 | business | business | NOUN | Number=Sing | 49 find | obj |
| 52 | here | here | ADV | PronType=Dem | 49 find | advmod |
| 53 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 2 is | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | be | present | a thick growth of flax on the little terraces and steep slopes above the bush | there | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 2 | force | present | we | our way | one place | through a regular jungle of place | vn urge-58.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent way=Recipient | ||
| 3 | grow | gerund | we not said here | thickly property | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 4 | encourage | to-infinitive | we not said here | the idea | almost property | vn accept-77.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent idea=Theme | |||
| 5 | find | would | a flax mill | profitable business | here | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent business=Topic | |||
| 6 | grow | flax on the little terraces and steep slopes above the bush | nom growth «process intransitive»: of=agent |
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: «Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury, New Zealand» by James Cowan, Project Gutenberg book 73766 (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/pg73766/11/29/