---
title: The high priest argued that the chiefs could not afford to give thes… — Hawaiian Historical Legends · tree and pragmatics
description: The high priest argued that the chiefs could not afford to give these war drums to Kahekili because the favour and protection of the war gods belonged to the king who could call them by the beating of the drums. Who acts: high priest, chiefs, favour, king. A sentence of «Hawaiian Historical Legends»
---

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# Hawaiian Historical Legends, King Kahahana, About 1773, sentence 65

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The high priest argued that the chiefs could not afford to give these war drums to Kahekili because the favour and protection of the war gods belonged to the king who could call them by the beating of the drums.

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**Who acts:** high priest, chiefs, favour, king · **What happens:** argue, not afford, give, belong, call, favour · **To what, where:** war drums, Kahekili, drums, war gods · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Hawaiian Historical Legends» by W. D. Westervelt, King Kahahana, About 1773. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (high priest, chiefs, favour, king), 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:pg66357:13:65
# text = The high priest argued that the chiefs could not afford to give these war drums to Kahekili because the favour and protection of the war gods belonged to the king who could call them by the beating of the drums.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	high	high	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	priest	priest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	argued	argue	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	chiefs	chief	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	nsubj	_	_
8	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
9	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	10	advmod	_	_
10	afford	afford	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	advcl	_	_
11	to	to	PART	TO	_	12	mark	_	_
12	give	give	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	xcomp	_	_
13	these	this	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	15	det	_	_
14	war	war	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	compound	_	_
15	drums	drum	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	obj	_	_
16	to	to	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	Kahekili	Kahekili	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	15	nmod	_	_
18	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	27	mark	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	favour	favour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	nsubj	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
22	protection	protection	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	conj	_	_
23	of	of	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
25	war	war	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	compound	_	_
26	gods	god	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	nmod	_	_
27	belonged	belong	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	advcl	_	_
28	to	to	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	_
31	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	33	nsubj	_	_
32	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	33	aux	_	_
33	call	call	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	30	acl:relcl	_	_
34	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	obj	_	_
35	by	by	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
36	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
37	beating	beating	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obl	_	_
38	of	of	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
39	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
40	drums	drum	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	37	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **argue** *speech: disagree* | past | the high priest |  |  |  |  |  | vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **not** **afford** | could | the chiefs |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **give** | to-infinitive | the chiefs *not said here* | this war drums | Kahekili |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent drum=Theme to kahekili=Recipient |
| 4 | **belong** | past | the favour of the war gods and protection |  |  |  |  | to the king | vn attend-107.4-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **call** | could | the king | drums *= drum* |  |  |  | by the beating of the drums | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent they=Recipient |
| 6 | **favour** |  |  | the war gods |  |  |  |  | nom favour «feeling transitive»: of=patient |
| 7 | **beat** |  |  | the drums |  |  |  |  | nom beating «act transitive»: of=patient |

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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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