Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury, New Zealand, How the Sacred Fire Came to Witch Hill., sentence 20
With a number of companions and food bearers the barefooted explorer trudged across country, through the unpeopled tussock prairies of Otago and the plains now known as Canterbury, fording or swimming the rivers or crossing them on rude rafts (_mokihi_) made of bundles of flax-stalks or of dried _raupo_, until he reached the hills that wall in Lyttelton Harbour.
Who acts: Canterbury · What happens: trudge, unpeopl, know, ford, swim, cross · To what, where: barefooted explorer, country, rivers, rude rafts, mokihi, hills
This is a sentence of «Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury, New Zealand» by James Cowan, How the Sacred Fire Came to Witch Hill.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Canterbury), 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 | With | with | ADP | _ | 3 number | case |
| 2 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 3 number | det |
| 3 | number | number | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 4 | of | of | ADP | _ | 5 companions | case |
| 5 | companions | companion | NOUN | Number=Plur | 3 number | nmod |
| 6 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 8 bearers | cc |
| 7 | food | food | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 bearers | compound |
| 8 | bearers | bearer | NOUN | Number=Plur | 5 companions | conj |
| 9 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 11 explorer | det |
| 10 | barefooted | barefooted | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 11 explorer | amod |
| 11 | explorer | explorer | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 companions | obj |
| 12 | trudged | trudge | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 11 explorer | acl |
| 13 | across | across | ADP | _ | 14 country | case |
| 14 | country | country | NOUN | Number=Sing | 12 trudged | obl |
| 15 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 20 prairies | punct |
| 16 | through | through | ADP | _ | 20 prairies | case |
| 17 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 20 prairies | det |
| 18 | unpeopled | unpeopl | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 20 prairies | amod |
| 19 | tussock | tussock | NOUN | Number=Sing | 20 prairies | compound |
| 20 | prairies | prairie | NOUN | Number=Plur | 12 trudged | conj |
| 21 | of | of | ADP | _ | 22 Otago | case |
| 22 | Otago | Otago | PROPN | Number=Sing | 20 prairies | nmod |
| 23 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 25 plains | cc |
| 24 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 25 plains | det |
| 25 | plains | plain | NOUN | Number=Plur | 22 Otago | conj |
| 26 | now | now | ADV | PronType=Dem | 27 known | advmod |
| 27 | known | know | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 20 prairies | advcl |
| 28 | as | as | ADP | _ | 29 Canterbury | case |
| 29 | Canterbury | Canterbury | PROPN | Number=Sing | 27 known | obl |
| 30 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 31 fording | punct |
| 31 | fording | ford | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 27 known | advcl |
| 32 | or | or | CCONJ | _ | 33 swimming | cc |
| 33 | swimming | swim | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 31 fording | conj |
| 34 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 35 rivers | det |
| 35 | rivers | river | NOUN | Number=Plur | 33 swimming | obj |
| 36 | or | or | CCONJ | _ | 37 crossing | cc |
| 37 | crossing | cross | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 31 fording | conj |
| 38 | them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 37 crossing | obj |
| 39 | on | on | ADP | _ | 41 rafts | case |
| 40 | rude | rude | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 41 rafts | amod |
| 41 | rafts | raft | NOUN | Number=Plur | 37 crossing | obl |
| 42 | ( | ( | PUNCT | _ | 44 mokihi | punct |
| 43 | _ | _ | PUNCT | _ | 44 mokihi | punct |
| 44 | mokihi | mokihi | NOUN | Number=Sing | 41 rafts | conj |
| 45 | _ | _ | PUNCT | _ | 44 mokihi | punct |
| 46 | ) | ) | PUNCT | _ | 44 mokihi | punct |
| 47 | made | make | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 44 mokihi | acl |
| 48 | of | of | ADP | _ | 49 bundles | case |
| 49 | bundles | bundle | NOUN | Number=Plur | 47 made | obl |
| 50 | of | of | ADP | _ | 53 stalks | case |
| 51 | flax | flax | NOUN | Number=Sing | 53 stalks | compound |
| 52 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 51 flax | punct |
| 53 | stalks | stalk | NOUN | Number=Plur | 49 bundles | nmod |
| 54 | or | or | CCONJ | _ | 58 raupo | cc |
| 55 | of | of | ADP | _ | 58 raupo | case |
| 56 | dried | dry | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 58 raupo | amod |
| 57 | _ | _ | PUNCT | _ | 56 dried | punct |
| 58 | raupo | raupo | NOUN | Number=Sing | 53 stalks | conj |
| 59 | _ | _ | PUNCT | _ | 58 raupo | punct |
| 60 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 63 reached | punct |
| 61 | until | until | SCONJ | _ | 63 reached | mark |
| 62 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 63 reached | nsubj |
| 63 | reached | reach | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 12 trudged | conj |
| 64 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 65 hills | det |
| 65 | hills | hill | NOUN | Number=Plur | 63 reached | obj |
| 66 | that | that | PRON | PronType=Rel | 67 wall | det |
| 67 | wall | wall | NOUN | Number=Sing | 65 hills | nmod |
| 68 | in | in | ADP | _ | 70 Harbour | case |
| 69 | Lyttelton | Lyttelton | PROPN | Number=Sing | 70 Harbour | compound |
| 70 | Harbour | Harbour | PROPN | Number=Sing | 67 wall | nmod |
| 71 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 3 number | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | trudge | participle | the barefooted explorer not said here | country | the unpeopled tussock prairies of Otago and the plains conj | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme across country=Trajectory | |||
| 2 | unpeopl | participle | tree rules | ||||||
| 3 | know | participle | now | as Canterbury | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer as canterbury=Attribute | ||||
| 4 | ford | gerund | tree rules | ||||||
| 5 | swim | gerund | the rivers | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme river=Trajectory | |||||
| 6 | cross | gerund | rivers = river | rude rafts and mokihi | vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Patient | ||||
| 7 | make | participle | mokihi not said here | of bundles of flax stalks or dried raupo | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset | ||||
| 8 | dry | participle | vn other_cos-45.4-1 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient | ||||||
| 9 | reach | past | Canterbury | the hills that wall in Lyttelton Harbour | vn body_motion-49.2-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Agent hill=Theme |
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/pg73766/13/20/