Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury, New Zealand, “the Crest of the Rainbow.”, sentence 64

There is a venerable _kotukutuku_, a wizard of a tree, its whitened bark hanging in strips like shaggy bits of beard, its trunk all knotted and twisted, standing sentry at the entrance to a little dusky cavern; its misshapen branches, storm-battered, go searching around the broken top of the black and grey rock.

Who acts: a, whitened bark, trunk · What happens: be, whiten, hang, knot, twist, stand · To what, where: strips, sentry, entrance, misshapen branches, broken top

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 (a, whitened bark, trunk), 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	2 is	nsubj
4	venerable	venerable	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 a	acl
5	_	_	PUNCT	_	6 kotukutuku	punct
6	kotukutuku	kotukutuku	X	Foreign=Yes	4 venerable	dep
7	_	_	PUNCT	_	6 kotukutuku	punct
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 wizard	punct
9	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	10 wizard	det
10	wizard	wizard	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 kotukutuku	appos
11	of	of	ADP	_	13 tree	case
12	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	13 tree	det
13	tree	tree	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 wizard	nmod
14	,	,	PUNCT	_	17 bark	punct
15	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	17 bark	nmod:poss
16	whitened	whiten	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	17 bark	amod
17	bark	bark	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 wizard	conj
18	hanging	hang	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	17 bark	acl
19	in	in	ADP	_	20 strips	case
20	strips	strip	NOUN	Number=Plur	18 hanging	obl
21	like	like	ADP	_	23 bits	case
22	shaggy	shaggy	ADJ	Degree=Pos	23 bits	amod
23	bits	bit	NOUN	Number=Plur	20 strips	nmod
24	of	of	ADP	_	25 beard	case
25	beard	beard	NOUN	Number=Sing	23 bits	nmod
26	,	,	PUNCT	_	30 knotted	punct
27	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	28 trunk	nmod:poss
28	trunk	trunk	NOUN	Number=Sing	30 knotted	nsubj
29	all	all	ADV	_	30 knotted	advmod
30	knotted	knot	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	18 hanging	parataxis
31	and	and	CCONJ	_	32 twisted	cc
32	twisted	twist	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	30 knotted	conj
33	,	,	PUNCT	_	34 standing	punct
34	standing	stand	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	32 twisted	advcl
35	sentry	sentry	NOUN	Number=Sing	34 standing	obj
36	at	at	ADP	_	38 entrance	case
37	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	38 entrance	det
38	entrance	entrance	NOUN	Number=Sing	34 standing	obl
39	to	to	ADP	_	43 cavern	case
40	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	43 cavern	det
41	little	little	ADJ	Degree=Pos	43 cavern	amod
42	dusky	dusky	ADJ	Degree=Pos	43 cavern	amod
43	cavern	cavern	NOUN	Number=Sing	34 standing	obl
44	;	;	PUNCT	_	51 battered	punct
45	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	47 branches	nmod:poss
46	misshapen	misshapen	ADJ	Degree=Pos	47 branches	amod
47	branches	branch	NOUN	Number=Plur	51 battered	nsubj:pass
48	,	,	PUNCT	_	51 battered	punct
49	storm	storm	NOUN	Number=Sing	51 battered	compound
50	-	-	PUNCT	_	49 storm	punct
51	battered	batter	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	6 kotukutuku	parataxis
52	,	,	PUNCT	_	53 go	punct
53	go	go	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	51 battered	conj
54	searching	search	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	53 go	xcomp
55	around	around	ADP	_	58 top	case
56	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	58 top	det
57	broken	break	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	58 top	amod
58	top	top	NOUN	Number=Sing	54 searching	obl
59	of	of	ADP	_	64 rock	case
60	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	64 rock	det
61	black	black	ADJ	Degree=Pos	64 rock	amod
62	and	and	CCONJ	_	63 grey	cc
63	grey	grey	ADJ	Degree=Pos	61 black	conj
64	rock	rock	NOUN	Number=Sing	58 top	nmod
65	.	.	PUNCT	_	2 is	punct

Pragmatics

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	be	present	a		there		vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	whiten	participle					vn other_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient
3	hang	gerund	wildness's whitened bark not said here		strips like shaggy bits of beard		vn assuming_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent in strip=Location
4	knot	past	wildness's trunk			all property	vn tape-22.4 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient
5	twist	past	wildness's trunk not said here				vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=Theme
6	stand	gerund	wildness's trunk not said here	sentry	the entrance	to a little dusky cavern	vn put_spatial-9.2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent sentry=Theme at entrance=Destination
7	batter	participle · passive		trunk's misshapen branches		storm compound	vn hit-18.1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient
8	go	infinitive					vn say-37.7 «NP V S-Quote»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
9	search	gerund			the broken top of the black rock		vn search-35.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent around top=Location
10	break	participle					vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «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: «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/pg73766/11/64/

🌲 Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury, New Zealand, “the Crest of the Rainbow.”, sentence 64

The tree

Pragmatics

Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury, New Zealand, “the Crest of the Rainbow.”, sentence 64