Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury, New Zealand, Whitcombe & Tombs Limited, sentence 12
And maybe if Mr. Ell’s name were bestowed, like Tamatea’s of old, upon one of these monumental crags still unchristened, it would but fittingly preserve the memory of a man whose title to such local honour and fame is certainly greater than that of some of his forerunners whose names the landscape bears.
Who acts: title, Ell, forerunners · What happens: bestow, unchristen, preserve, be, name · To what, where: name, monumental crags, memory
This is a sentence of «Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury, New Zealand» by James Cowan, Whitcombe & Tombs Limited. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (title, Ell, forerunners), 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 | And | and | CCONJ | _ | 9 bestowed | cc |
| 2 | maybe | maybe | ADV | _ | 9 bestowed | advmod |
| 3 | if | if | SCONJ | _ | 9 bestowed | mark |
| 4 | Mr. | Mr. | PROPN | Number=Sing | 5 Ell | nmod:desc |
| 5 | Ell | Ell | PROPN | Number=Sing | 7 name | nmod:poss |
| 6 | ’s | 's | PART | _ | 5 Ell | case |
| 7 | name | name | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 bestowed | nsubj:pass |
| 8 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 9 bestowed | aux:pass |
| 9 | bestowed | bestow | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 10 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 12 Tamatea | punct |
| 11 | like | like | ADP | _ | 12 Tamatea | case |
| 12 | Tamatea | Tamatea | PROPN | Number=Sing | 9 bestowed | obl |
| 13 | ’s | 's | PART | _ | 12 Tamatea | case |
| 14 | of | of | ADP | _ | 15 old | case |
| 15 | old | old | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 12 Tamatea | nmod |
| 16 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 18 one | punct |
| 17 | upon | upon | ADP | _ | 18 one | case |
| 18 | one | one | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 9 bestowed | parataxis |
| 19 | of | of | ADP | _ | 22 crags | case |
| 20 | these | this | DET | Number=Plur PronType=Dem | 22 crags | det |
| 21 | monumental | monumental | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 22 crags | amod |
| 22 | crags | crag | NOUN | Number=Plur | 18 one | nmod |
| 23 | still | still | ADV | _ | 24 unchristened | advmod |
| 24 | unchristened | unchristen | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 22 crags | acl |
| 25 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 27 would | punct |
| 26 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 27 would | nsubj |
| 27 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 9 bestowed | advcl |
| 28 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 30 preserve | cc |
| 29 | fittingly | fittingly | ADV | _ | 30 preserve | advmod |
| 30 | preserve | preserve | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 9 bestowed | conj |
| 31 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 32 memory | det |
| 32 | memory | memory | NOUN | Number=Sing | 30 preserve | obj |
| 33 | of | of | ADP | _ | 35 man | case |
| 34 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 35 man | det |
| 35 | man | man | NOUN | Number=Sing | 46 greater | obl |
| 36 | whose | whose | PRON | Poss=Yes PronType=Rel | 37 title | nmod:poss |
| 37 | title | title | NOUN | Number=Sing | 46 greater | nsubj |
| 38 | to | to | ADP | _ | 41 honour | case |
| 39 | such | such | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 41 honour | amod |
| 40 | local | local | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 41 honour | amod |
| 41 | honour | honour | NOUN | Number=Sing | 37 title | nmod |
| 42 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 43 fame | cc |
| 43 | fame | fame | NOUN | Number=Sing | 41 honour | conj |
| 44 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 46 greater | cop |
| 45 | certainly | certainly | ADV | _ | 46 greater | advmod |
| 46 | greater | great | ADJ | Degree=Cmp | 32 memory | acl:relcl |
| 47 | than | than | ADP | _ | 48 that | case |
| 48 | that | that | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 46 greater | obl |
| 49 | of | of | ADP | _ | 50 some | case |
| 50 | some | some | DET | PronType=Ind | 48 that | nmod |
| 51 | of | of | ADP | _ | 53 forerunners | case |
| 52 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 53 forerunners | nmod:poss |
| 53 | forerunners | forerunner | NOUN | Number=Plur | 50 some | nmod |
| 54 | whose | whose | PRON | Poss=Yes PronType=Rel | 55 names | nmod:poss |
| 55 | names | name | NOUN | Number=Plur | 53 forerunners | nmod |
| 56 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 58 bears | det |
| 57 | landscape | landscape | NOUN | Number=Sing | 58 bears | compound |
| 58 | bears | bear | NOUN | Number=Plur | 55 names | conj |
| 59 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 9 bestowed | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | bestow | past · passive | Ell Mr.'s name | like Tamatea of old; one of this monumental crags parataxis; maybe property | tree rules | ||||
| 2 | unchristen | participle | this monumental crags not said here | still | tree rules | ||||
| 3 | preserve | infinitive | the memory | fittingly property | vn defend-72.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent memory=Beneficiary | ||||
| 4 | is | present | title to such local honour and fame | of a man; than the memory; certainly, great property | tree rules | ||||
| 5 | name | Ell Mr. | nom name «communication transitive»: poss=agent | ||||||
| 6 | name | Mr.'s forerunners Mr.'s forerunners names and the landscape bears's names and the landscape bears | nom name «communication transitive»: poss=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/pg73766/2/12/