Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury, New Zealand, The Little People of the Mist., sentence 60
The soft and plaintive flute song of the fair-skinned folk who lived on these misty mountains seems to have appealed to the Native heart, for it is described as sweeter by far than the _whakatangitangi_, the “making sound upon sound,” of the ordinary Maori flute-players.
Who acts: skinned folk, soft flute song · What happens: live, seem, appeal, describe, make, sing · To what, where: misty mountains, mountain
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 (skinned folk, soft flute song), 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 | 6 song | det |
| 2 | soft | soft | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 6 song | amod |
| 3 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 4 plaintive | cc |
| 4 | plaintive | plaintive | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 2 soft | conj |
| 5 | flute | flute | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 song | compound |
| 6 | song | song | NOUN | Number=Sing | 19 seems | nsubj |
| 7 | of | of | ADP | _ | 12 folk | case |
| 8 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 12 folk | det |
| 9 | fair | fair | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 11 skinned | amod |
| 10 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 9 fair | punct |
| 11 | skinned | skinned | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 12 folk | amod |
| 12 | folk | folk | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 song | nmod |
| 13 | who | who | PRON | PronType=Rel | 14 lived | nsubj |
| 14 | lived | live | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 12 folk | acl:relcl |
| 15 | on | on | ADP | _ | 18 mountains | case |
| 16 | these | this | DET | Number=Plur PronType=Dem | 18 mountains | det |
| 17 | misty | misty | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 18 mountains | amod |
| 18 | mountains | mountain | NOUN | Number=Plur | 14 lived | obl |
| 19 | seems | seem | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 20 | to | to | PART | _ | 22 appealed | mark |
| 21 | have | have | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 22 appealed | aux |
| 22 | appealed | appeal | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 19 seems | xcomp |
| 23 | to | to | ADP | _ | 26 heart | case |
| 24 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 26 heart | det |
| 25 | Native | native | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 26 heart | amod |
| 26 | heart | heart | NOUN | Number=Sing | 22 appealed | obl |
| 27 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 31 described | punct |
| 28 | for | for | SCONJ | _ | 31 described | mark |
| 29 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 31 described | nsubj:pass |
| 30 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 31 described | aux:pass |
| 31 | described | describe | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 22 appealed | parataxis |
| 32 | as | as | ADP | _ | 33 sweeter | case |
| 33 | sweeter | sweet | ADJ | Degree=Cmp | 31 described | obl |
| 34 | by | by | ADP | _ | 35 far | case |
| 35 | far | far | ADV | Degree=Pos | 31 described | obl |
| 36 | than | than | ADP | _ | 39 whakatangitangi | case |
| 37 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 39 whakatangitangi | det |
| 38 | _ | _ | PUNCT | _ | 39 whakatangitangi | punct |
| 39 | whakatangitangi | whakatangitangi | NOUN | Number=Sing | 35 far | obl |
| 40 | _ | _ | PUNCT | _ | 35 far | punct |
| 41 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 45 sound | punct |
| 42 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 45 sound | det |
| 43 | “ | " | PUNCT | _ | 44 making | punct |
| 44 | making | make | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 45 sound | amod |
| 45 | sound | sound | NOUN | Number=Sing | 19 seems | parataxis |
| 46 | upon | upon | ADP | _ | 47 sound | case |
| 47 | sound | sound | NOUN | Number=Sing | 45 sound | nmod |
| 48 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 19 seems | punct |
| 49 | ” | " | PUNCT | _ | 19 seems | punct |
| 50 | of | of | ADP | _ | 56 players | case |
| 51 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 56 players | det |
| 52 | ordinary | ordinary | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 56 players | amod |
| 53 | Maori | maori | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 56 players | amod |
| 54 | flute | flute | NOUN | Number=Sing | 56 players | compound |
| 55 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 54 flute | punct |
| 56 | players | player | NOUN | Number=Plur | 19 seems | obl |
| 57 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 19 seems | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | live | past | the skinned folk | this misty mountains | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on mountain=Location | ||||
| 2 | seem | present | the soft flute song of the skinned folk | of the ordinary Maori flute players; the making sound upon sound parataxis | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S_INF»: agent=Theme clause=Attribute | ||||
| 3 | appeal | to-infinitive · perfect | the soft flute song of the skinned folk not said here | to the Native heart | vn appeal-31.4-2 «NP V PP.experiencer»: agent=Stimulus to heart=Experiencer | ||||
| 4 | describe | present · passive | mountain | as sweeter | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: subject=Theme as sweet=Attribute | ||||
| 5 | make in a quote | gerund | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset | ||||||
| 6 | sing | the skinned folk | nom song «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/pg73766/14/60/