Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury, New Zealand, Rapaki: a Village By the Sea., sentence 90
So by the foot of the greenwood tree was begun the talk of olden days that ended, as the sun declined behind the historic crags of Tamatea, on Taare Tikao’s hospitable verandah, overlooking the little village and the soft blue placid waters of the Whaka-Raupo.
Who acts: foot, olden days, sun · What happens: begin, end, decline, overlook, talk · To what, where: talk, historic crags, little village
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 (foot, olden days, sun), 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 | So | so | ADV | _ | 10 begun | advmod |
| 2 | by | by | ADP | _ | 4 foot | case |
| 3 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 4 foot | det |
| 4 | foot | foot | NOUN | Number=Sing | 10 begun | obl |
| 5 | of | of | ADP | _ | 8 tree | case |
| 6 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 8 tree | det |
| 7 | greenwood | greenwood | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 tree | compound |
| 8 | tree | tree | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 foot | nmod |
| 9 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 10 begun | aux:pass |
| 10 | begun | begin | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 11 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 12 talk | det |
| 12 | talk | talk | NOUN | Number=Sing | 10 begun | obj |
| 13 | of | of | ADP | _ | 15 days | case |
| 14 | olden | olden | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 15 days | amod |
| 15 | days | day | NOUN | Number=Plur | 12 talk | nmod |
| 16 | that | that | PRON | PronType=Rel | 17 ended | nsubj |
| 17 | ended | end | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 15 days | acl:relcl |
| 18 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 22 declined | punct |
| 19 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 22 declined | mark |
| 20 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 21 sun | det |
| 21 | sun | sun | NOUN | Number=Sing | 22 declined | nsubj |
| 22 | declined | decline | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 17 ended | conj |
| 23 | behind | behind | ADP | _ | 26 crags | case |
| 24 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 26 crags | det |
| 25 | historic | historic | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 26 crags | amod |
| 26 | crags | crag | NOUN | Number=Plur | 22 declined | obl |
| 27 | of | of | ADP | _ | 28 Tamatea | case |
| 28 | Tamatea | Tamatea | PROPN | Number=Sing | 26 crags | nmod |
| 29 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 35 verandah | punct |
| 30 | on | on | ADP | _ | 35 verandah | case |
| 31 | Taare | Taare | PROPN | Number=Sing | 32 Tikao | compound |
| 32 | Tikao | Tikao | PROPN | Number=Sing | 35 verandah | nmod:poss |
| 33 | ’s | 's | PART | _ | 32 Tikao | case |
| 34 | hospitable | hospitable | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 35 verandah | amod |
| 35 | verandah | verandah | NOUN | Number=Sing | 22 declined | obl |
| 36 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 37 overlooking | punct |
| 37 | overlooking | overlook | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 22 declined | advcl |
| 38 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 40 village | det |
| 39 | little | little | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 40 village | amod |
| 40 | village | village | NOUN | Number=Sing | 37 overlooking | obj |
| 41 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 46 waters | cc |
| 42 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 46 waters | det |
| 43 | soft | soft | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 46 waters | amod |
| 44 | blue | blue | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 46 waters | amod |
| 45 | placid | placid | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 46 waters | amod |
| 46 | waters | water | NOUN | Number=Plur | 40 village | conj |
| 47 | of | of | ADP | _ | 51 Raupo | case |
| 48 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 51 Raupo | det |
| 49 | Whaka | Whaka | PROPN | Number=Sing | 51 Raupo | compound |
| 50 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 49 Whaka | punct |
| 51 | Raupo | Raupo | PROPN | Number=Sing | 46 waters | nmod |
| 52 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 10 begun | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | begin | past · passive | the foot of the greenwood tree | the talk of olden days | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent talk=Eventuality | ||||
| 2 | end | past | olden days | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality | |||||
| 3 | decline | past | the sun | the historic crags of Tamatea | on Taare Tikao's hospitable verandah | vn calibratable_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute | |||
| 4 | overlook | gerund | the sun not said here | the little village and the soft blue placid waters of the Whaka Raupo | vn neglect-75.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent village=Theme | ||||
| 5 | talk | olden days | nom talk «communication 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/pg73766/12/90/