---
title: The decision was announced that Laa must have wives given to him fro… — Hawaiian Historical Legends · tree and pragmatics
description: The decision was announced that Laa must have wives given to him from among the young women of highest rank on Oahu, the home of Laa in his boyhood and still the place where the larger portion of his nearest relatives resided. Who acts: Laa, larger portion. A sentence of «Hawaiian Historical Legends
---

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# Hawaiian Historical Legends, Laa From Tahiti, sentence 50

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The decision was announced that Laa must have wives given to him from among the young women of highest rank on Oahu, the home of Laa in his boyhood and still the place where the larger portion of his nearest relatives resided.

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**Who acts:** Laa, larger portion · **What happens:** announce, have, give, reside · **To what, where:** decision, wives, temple · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Hawaiian Historical Legends» by W. D. Westervelt, Laa From Tahiti. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Laa, larger portion), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg66357:10:50
# text = The decision was announced that Laa must have wives given to him from among the young women of highest rank on Oahu, the home of Laa in his boyhood and still the place where the larger portion of his nearest relatives resided.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	decision	decision	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux:pass	_	_
4	announced	announce	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
6	Laa	laa	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
7	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
8	have	have	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	ccomp	_	_
9	wives	wife	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obj	_	_
10	given	give	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	9	acl	_	_
11	to	to	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	obl	_	_
13	from	from	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
14	among	among	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
16	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	women	woman	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obl	_	_
18	of	of	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	highest	high	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	20	amod	_	_
20	rank	rank	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nmod	_	_
21	on	on	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	Oahu	Oahu	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	20	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	home	home	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	conj	_	_
26	of	of	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
27	Laa	Laa	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	25	nmod	_	_
28	in	in	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	30	nmod:poss	_	_
30	boyhood	boyhood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nmod	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
32	still	still	ADV	RB	_	34	advmod	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	place	place	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	conj	_	_
35	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	43	advmod	_	_
36	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
37	larger	large	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	38	amod	_	_
38	portion	portion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	nsubj	_	_
39	of	of	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
40	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	42	nmod:poss	_	_
41	nearest	near	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	42	amod	_	_
42	relatives	relative	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	38	nmod	_	_
43	resided	reside	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	34	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **announce** *speech: other* | past · passive |  | the decision |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **have** | must | Laa | wives |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wife=Patient |
| 3 | **give** | participle |  | wives *not said here* | temple |  |  | from the young women of highest rank on Oahu and the home of Laa in temple's boyhood and the place | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V PP.recipient»: agent=Agent to he=Recipient |
| 4 | **reside** | past | the larger portion of portion's nearest relatives |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .note -->
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.

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**Text:** «Hawaiian Historical Legends» by W. D. Westervelt, Project Gutenberg book 66357 (public domain in the USA). **Tree:** Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), the chapter read in order.

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