Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury, New Zealand, How the Sacred Fire Came to Witch Hill., sentence 28
The sacred fire was saved and it was taken by the chiefs up the Waitaki River and placed there in the ground; and there until about forty-five years ago it was still actually burning, issuing from the earth in a little undying flame, and it was called “Te Ahi a Uenuku.”
Who acts: chiefs, ground · What happens: save, take up, place, burn, issue, call · To what, where: sacred fire, it, ground, earth · Speech: someone speaks here
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 (chiefs, ground), 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 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 3 fire | det |
| 2 | sacred | sacred | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 3 fire | amod |
| 3 | fire | fire | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 saved | nsubj:pass |
| 4 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 saved | aux:pass |
| 5 | saved | save | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 6 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 9 taken | cc |
| 7 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 9 taken | nsubj:pass |
| 8 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 9 taken | aux:pass |
| 9 | taken | take | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 5 saved | conj |
| 10 | by | by | ADP | _ | 12 chiefs | case |
| 11 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 12 chiefs | det |
| 12 | chiefs | chief | NOUN | Number=Plur | 9 taken | obl |
| 13 | up | up | ADP | _ | 9 taken | compound:prt |
| 14 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 16 River | det |
| 15 | Waitaki | Waitaki | PROPN | Number=Sing | 16 River | compound |
| 16 | River | River | PROPN | Number=Sing | 9 taken | obj |
| 17 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 18 placed | cc |
| 18 | placed | place | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 9 taken | conj |
| 19 | there | there | ADV | PronType=Dem | 18 placed | advmod |
| 20 | in | in | ADP | _ | 22 ground | case |
| 21 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 22 ground | det |
| 22 | ground | ground | NOUN | Number=Sing | 18 placed | obl |
| 23 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 25 there | punct |
| 24 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 25 there | cc |
| 25 | there | there | ADV | PronType=Dem | 5 saved | advcl |
| 26 | until | until | ADP | _ | 31 years | case |
| 27 | about | about | ADV | _ | 28 forty | advmod |
| 28 | forty | forty | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 31 years | nummod |
| 29 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 28 forty | punct |
| 30 | five | five | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 28 forty | flat |
| 31 | years | year | NOUN | Number=Plur | 5 saved | obl |
| 32 | ago | ago | ADV | _ | 31 years | advmod |
| 33 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 37 burning | nsubj |
| 34 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 37 burning | aux |
| 35 | still | still | ADV | _ | 37 burning | advmod |
| 36 | actually | actually | ADV | _ | 37 burning | advmod |
| 37 | burning | burn | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 5 saved | ccomp |
| 38 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 39 issuing | punct |
| 39 | issuing | issue | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 37 burning | advcl |
| 40 | from | from | ADP | _ | 42 earth | case |
| 41 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 42 earth | det |
| 42 | earth | earth | NOUN | Number=Sing | 39 issuing | obl |
| 43 | in | in | ADP | _ | 47 flame | case |
| 44 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 47 flame | det |
| 45 | little | little | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 47 flame | amod |
| 46 | undying | undying | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 47 flame | amod |
| 47 | flame | flame | NOUN | Number=Sing | 39 issuing | obl |
| 48 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 52 called | punct |
| 49 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 52 called | cc |
| 50 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 52 called | nsubj:pass |
| 51 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 52 called | aux:pass |
| 52 | called | call | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 5 saved | parataxis |
| 53 | “ | " | PUNCT | _ | 57 Uenuku | punct |
| 54 | Te | Te | PROPN | Number=Sing | 57 Uenuku | compound |
| 55 | Ahi | Ahi | PROPN | Number=Sing | 54 Te | flat |
| 56 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 57 Uenuku | det |
| 57 | Uenuku | Uenuku | PROPN | Number=Sing | 52 called | xcomp |
| 58 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 57 Uenuku | punct |
| 59 | ” | " | PUNCT | _ | 57 Uenuku | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | save | past · passive | the sacred fire | year | tree rules | ||||
| 2 | take up | past · passive | the chiefs | it | the Waitaki River obj | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP ADVP»: agent=Instrument subject=Theme river=Destination | |||
| 3 | place | participle | the chiefs not said here | the ground; there | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent in ground=Destination | ||||
| 4 | burn | past · progressive | ground | still | actually property | vn light_emission-43.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||
| 5 | issue | gerund | ground not said here | the earth | in a little undying flame | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in flame=Location | |||
| 6 | call | past · passive | ground | a Te Uenuku xcomp | vn initiate_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: subject=Recipient |
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/pg73766/13/28/