---
title: The great mountains upon these islands did not rise in sharp peaks,… — Hawaiian Historical Legends · tree and pragmatics
description: The great mountains upon these islands did not rise in sharp peaks, but spread out like a high tableland in the clouds, hence he also called the islands “Isles de Mesa,” the Mesa Islands or the Table Lands. Who acts: great mountains, Gaetano. A sentence of «Hawaiian Historical Legends» by W. D. West
---

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# Hawaiian Historical Legends, First Foreigners, sentence 56

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The great mountains upon these islands did not rise in sharp peaks, but spread out like a high tableland in the clouds, hence he also called the islands “Isles de Mesa,” the Mesa Islands or the Table Lands.

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**Who acts:** great mountains, Gaetano · **What happens:** not rise, spread out, call · **To what, where:** sharp peaks, clouds, islands · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Hawaiian Historical Legends» by W. D. Westervelt, First Foreigners. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (great mountains, Gaetano), 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:pg66357:11:56
# text = The great mountains upon these islands did not rise in sharp peaks, but spread out like a high tableland in the clouds, hence he also called the islands “Isles de Mesa,” the Mesa Islands or the Table Lands.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	mountains	mountain	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nsubj	_	_
4	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	these	this	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	6	det	_	_
6	islands	island	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nmod	_	_
7	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
8	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	9	advmod	_	_
9	rise	rise	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
10	in	in	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	sharp	sharp	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	peaks	peak	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
14	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
15	spread	spread	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	conj	_	_
16	out	out	ADP	RP	_	15	compound:prt	_	_
17	like	like	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
18	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
19	high	high	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
20	tableland	tableland	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	_
21	in	in	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	clouds	cloud	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
25	hence	hence	ADV	RB	_	28	advmod	_	_
26	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
27	also	also	ADV	RB	_	28	advmod	_	_
28	called	call	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	parataxis	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	islands	island	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	28	obj	_	_
31	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	32	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	Isles	isle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	28	xcomp	_	_
33	de	de	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
34	Mesa	Mesa	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	32	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	39	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	39	punct	_	_
37	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
38	Mesa	Mesa	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	39	compound	_	_
39	Islands	Island	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	28	obl	_	_
40	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	43	cc	_	_
41	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	43	det	_	_
42	Table	Table	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	43	compound	_	_
43	Lands	Land	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	39	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **rise** | past · do-support | the great mountains upon this islands |  |  | sharp peaks |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent in peak=Location |
| 2 | **spread out** | past | the great mountains upon this islands *not said here* |  |  | the clouds |  | like a high tableland | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in cloud=Location |
| 3 | **call** | past | Gaetano | the islands |  |  |  | the Mesa Islands or the Table Lands *obl*; Isles de Mesa *xcomp*; hence *property* | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent island=Recipient |

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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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