Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury, New Zealand, The Little People of the Mist., sentence 31
One day when it rained and blew, we were motoring over the hills from the Plains to Akaroa, scarcely able to see twenty yards in front of the car when we ran cautiously round to Hilltop.
Who acts: it, we · What happens: rain, blow, motor, see, run, hilltop · To what, where: Akaroa, hills, twenty yards, front
This is a sentence of «Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury, New Zealand» by James Cowan, The Little People of the Mist.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (it, we), 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 | One | one | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 2 day | nummod |
| 2 | day | day | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 rained | obl:unmarked |
| 3 | when | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 5 rained | advmod |
| 4 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 5 rained | nsubj |
| 5 | rained | rain | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 6 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 7 blew | cc |
| 7 | blew | blow | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 rained | conj |
| 8 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 11 motoring | punct |
| 9 | we | we | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=1 PronType=Prs | 11 motoring | nsubj |
| 10 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 11 motoring | aux |
| 11 | motoring | motor | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 5 rained | advcl |
| 12 | over | over | ADP | _ | 14 hills | case |
| 13 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 14 hills | det |
| 14 | hills | hill | NOUN | Number=Plur | 11 motoring | obl |
| 15 | from | from | ADP | _ | 17 Plains | case |
| 16 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 17 Plains | det |
| 17 | Plains | Plain | PROPN | Number=Plur | 14 hills | nmod |
| 18 | to | to | ADP | _ | 19 Akaroa | case |
| 19 | Akaroa | Akaroa | PROPN | Number=Sing | 11 motoring | obl |
| 20 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 22 able | punct |
| 21 | scarcely | scarcely | ADV | _ | 22 able | advmod |
| 22 | able | able | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 11 motoring | advcl |
| 23 | to | to | PART | _ | 24 see | mark |
| 24 | see | see | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 22 able | xcomp |
| 25 | twenty | twenty | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 26 yards | nummod |
| 26 | yards | yard | NOUN | Number=Plur | 24 see | obj |
| 27 | in | in | ADP | _ | 28 front | case |
| 28 | front | front | NOUN | Number=Sing | 24 see | obl |
| 29 | of | of | ADP | _ | 31 car | case |
| 30 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 31 car | det |
| 31 | car | car | NOUN | Number=Sing | 28 front | nmod |
| 32 | when | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 34 ran | advmod |
| 33 | we | we | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=1 PronType=Prs | 34 ran | nsubj |
| 34 | ran | run | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 24 see | advcl |
| 35 | cautiously | cautiously | ADV | _ | 36 round | advmod |
| 36 | round | round | ADV | _ | 34 ran | advmod |
| 37 | to | to | ADP | _ | 38 Hilltop | case |
| 38 | Hilltop | hilltop | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 36 round | acl:relcl |
| 39 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 5 rained | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | rain | past | it | day | vn weather-57 «It V PP.theme» | ||||
| 2 | blow | past | vn split-23.2 «NP V apart»: agent=Patient | ||||||
| 3 | motor | past · progressive | we | Akaroa | the hills from the Plains | vn vehicle-51.4.1 «NP.theme V PP.location»: agent=Theme over hill=Trajectory | |||
| 4 | see | to-infinitive | we not said here | twenty yards | front of the car | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer yard=Stimulus | |||
| 5 | run | past | we | round property | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 6 | hilltop | infinitive | tree rules |
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/pg73766/14/31/