---
title: The chief said “it was like a heiau (temple) with steps going up to… — Hawaiian Historical Legends · tree and pragmatics
description: The chief said “it was like a heiau (temple) with steps going up to the altars, masts standing with branches spread out each side, and a long stick in front like the sharp nose of a swordfish, openings (portholes) in the side and openings behind. Who acts: chief, thing, steps, masts. A sentence of «
---

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# Hawaiian Historical Legends, Captain Cook, sentence 79

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The chief said “it was like a heiau (temple) with steps going up to the altars, masts standing with branches spread out each side, and a long stick in front like the sharp nose of a swordfish, openings (portholes) in the side and openings behind.

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**Who acts:** chief, thing, steps, masts, branches · **What happens:** say, be, go up, stand, spread out · **To what, where:** side · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Hawaiian Historical Legends» by W. D. Westervelt, Captain Cook. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (chief, thing, steps, masts), 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:pg66357:12:79
# text = The chief said “it was like a heiau (temple) with steps going up to the altars, masts standing with branches spread out each side, and a long stick in front like the sharp nose of a swordfish, openings (portholes) in the side and openings behind.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	chief	chief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
6	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
7	like	like	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	heiau	heiau	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	ccomp	_	_
10	(	(	PUNCT	-LRB-	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	temple	temple	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	)	)	PUNCT	-RRB-	_	11	punct	_	_
13	with	with	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	steps	step	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nmod	_	_
15	going	go	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	14	acl	_	_
16	up	up	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
17	to	to	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	altars	altar	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
21	masts	mast	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	conj	_	_
22	standing	stand	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	21	acl	_	_
23	with	with	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	branches	branch	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	obl	_	_
25	spread	spread	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	24	acl	_	_
26	out	out	ADP	RP	_	25	compound:prt	_	_
27	each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	28	det	_	_
28	side	side	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
30	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	33	cc	_	_
31	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
32	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	33	amod	_	_
33	stick	stick	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	conj	_	_
34	in	in	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
35	front	front	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	nmod	_	_
36	like	like	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
37	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
38	sharp	sharp	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	39	amod	_	_
39	nose	nose	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	nmod	_	_
40	of	of	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
41	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	42	det	_	_
42	swordfish	swordfish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	44	punct	_	_
44	openings	opening	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	33	conj	_	_
45	(	(	PUNCT	-LRB-	_	46	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	portholes	porthole	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	44	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	)	)	PUNCT	-RRB-	_	46	punct	_	_
48	in	in	ADP	IN	_	50	case	_	_
49	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	50	det	_	_
50	side	side	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	44	nmod	_	_
51	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	52	cc	_	_
52	openings	opening	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	50	conj	_	_
53	behind	behind	ADV	RB	_	52	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
54	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the chief |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is** *in a quote* | past | thing |  |  |  |  | like a heiau and a long stick in front like the sharp nose of a swordfish and openings in the side and openings; with steps and masts; temple *appos*; a long stick in front like the sharp nose of a swordfish and openings in the side and openings *conj* | tree rules |
| 3 | **go up** *in a quote* | gerund | steps and masts *not said here* |  |  |  |  | to the altars | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |
| 4 | **stand** *in a quote* | gerund | masts *not said here* |  |  |  |  | with branches | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **spread out** *in a quote* | participle | branches *not said here* | each side |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=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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