Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury, New Zealand, Rapaki: a Village By the Sea., sentence 28
He was indeed a fine figure of a man, nearer seven feet than six feet high, it is said, very powerful, and a most skilful man in the use of the _taiaha_, the Maori broadsword of hard tough _akeake_, and the spear and the stone _mere_.
Who acts: whakaputa · What happens: be, say, use · To what, where: fine figure, name, taiaha · Speech: someone speaks here
This is a sentence of «Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury, New Zealand» by James Cowan, Rapaki: a Village By the Sea.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (whakaputa), 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 | 6 figure | nsubj |
| 2 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 6 figure | cop |
| 3 | indeed | indeed | ADV | _ | 6 figure | advmod |
| 4 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 6 figure | det |
| 5 | fine | fine | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 6 figure | amod |
| 6 | figure | figure | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 7 | of | of | ADP | _ | 9 man | case |
| 8 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 9 man | det |
| 9 | man | man | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 figure | nmod |
| 10 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 13 feet | punct |
| 11 | nearer | near | ADJ | Degree=Cmp | 13 feet | amod |
| 12 | seven | seven | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 13 feet | nummod |
| 13 | feet | foot | NOUN | Number=Plur | 17 high | obl:unmarked |
| 14 | than | than | ADP | _ | 16 feet | case |
| 15 | six | six | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 16 feet | nummod |
| 16 | feet | foot | NOUN | Number=Plur | 13 feet | nmod |
| 17 | high | high | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 6 figure | amod |
| 18 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 21 said | punct |
| 19 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 21 said | nsubj |
| 20 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 21 said | aux:pass |
| 21 | said | say | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 6 figure | parataxis |
| 22 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 24 powerful | punct |
| 23 | very | very | ADV | _ | 24 powerful | advmod |
| 24 | powerful | powerful | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 21 said | conj |
| 25 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 30 man | punct |
| 26 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 30 man | cc |
| 27 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 30 man | det |
| 28 | most | most | ADV | Degree=Sup | 29 skilful | advmod |
| 29 | skilful | skilful | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 30 man | amod |
| 30 | man | man | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 figure | appos |
| 31 | in | in | ADP | _ | 33 use | case |
| 32 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 33 use | det |
| 33 | use | use | NOUN | Number=Sing | 30 man | nmod |
| 34 | of | of | ADP | _ | 37 taiaha | case |
| 35 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 37 taiaha | det |
| 36 | _ | _ | PUNCT | _ | 37 taiaha | punct |
| 37 | taiaha | taiaha | NOUN | Number=Sing | 33 use | nmod |
| 38 | _ | _ | PUNCT | _ | 30 man | punct |
| 39 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 42 broadsword | punct |
| 40 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 42 broadsword | det |
| 41 | Maori | maori | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 42 broadsword | amod |
| 42 | broadsword | broadsword | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 figure | appos |
| 43 | of | of | ADP | _ | 47 akeake | case |
| 44 | hard | hard | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 47 akeake | amod |
| 45 | tough | tough | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 47 akeake | amod |
| 46 | _ | _ | PUNCT | _ | 45 tough | punct |
| 47 | akeake | akeake | NOUN | Number=Sing | 42 broadsword | nmod |
| 48 | _ | _ | PUNCT | _ | 42 broadsword | punct |
| 49 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 52 spear | punct |
| 50 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 52 spear | cc |
| 51 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 52 spear | det |
| 52 | spear | spear | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 figure | appos |
| 53 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 55 stone | cc |
| 54 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 55 stone | det |
| 55 | stone | stone | NOUN | Number=Sing | 52 spear | conj |
| 56 | _ | _ | PUNCT | _ | 57 mere | punct |
| 57 | mere | mere | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 figure | appos |
| 58 | _ | _ | PUNCT | _ | 57 mere | punct |
| 59 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 6 figure | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is a | past | whakaputa | a fine figure | of a man; a skilful man in the use of the taiaha appos; the Maori broadsword of hard tough akeake appos; the spear and the stone appos; mere appos; indeed property | tree rules | |||
| 2 | say speech: assert | present · passive | name | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: subject=Topic | |||||
| 3 | use | the taiaha | nom use «act transitive»: of=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/pg73766/12/28/