---
title: The men of Kahiki have ascended The backbone of heaven (mountains) U… — Hawaiian Historical Legends · tree and pragmatics
description: The men of Kahiki have ascended The backbone of heaven (mountains) Up there they trample down, They look down on those below. Who acts: men, man. A sentence of «Hawaiian Historical Legends» by W. D. Westervelt, First Foreigners, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Hawaiian Historical Legends, First Foreigners, sentence 87

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The men of Kahiki have ascended The backbone of heaven (mountains) Up there they trample down, They look down on those below.

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**Who acts:** men, man · **What happens:** ascend, trample down, look down · **To what, where:** backbone

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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 (men, man), 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:pg66357:11:87
# text = The men of Kahiki have ascended The backbone of heaven (mountains) Up there they trample down, They look down on those below.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	Kahiki	Kahiki	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
5	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
6	ascended	ascend	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
7	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	backbone	backbone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	heaven	heaven	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	_
11	(	(	PUNCT	-LRB-	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	mountains	mountain	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	)	)	PUNCT	-RRB-	_	12	punct	_	_
14	Up	up	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
15	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	17	advmod	_	_
16	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
17	trample	trample	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	advcl	_	_
18	down	down	ADP	RP	_	17	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
20	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
21	look	look	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
22	down	down	ADP	RP	_	21	compound:prt	_	_
23	on	on	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	those	that	PRON	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	21	obl	_	_
25	below	below	ADV	RB	_	24	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ascend** | present · perfect | the men of Kahiki | the backbone of heaven and mountains |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1-3 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme backbone=Trajectory |
| 2 | **trample down** | present | man |  |  | there |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **look down** | present | man |  |  |  |  | on those | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent on that=Theme |

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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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