---
title: Ka-meha-meha had been able to secure some small cannon, which he pla… — Hawaiian Historical Legends · tree and pragmatics
description: Ka-meha-meha had been able to secure some small cannon, which he placed on some of his larger canoes. Who acts: Ka, small cannon. A sentence of «Hawaiian Historical Legends» by W. D. Westervelt, The Red Mouth Gun, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Hawaiian Historical Legends, The Red Mouth Gun, sentence 69

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Ka-meha-meha had been able to secure some small cannon, which he placed on some of his larger canoes.

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**Who acts:** Ka, small cannon · **What happens:** be, secure, place · **To what, where:** small cannon, some

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This is a sentence of «Hawaiian Historical Legends» by W. D. Westervelt, The Red Mouth Gun. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Ka, small cannon), 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:pg66357:17:69
# text = Ka-meha-meha had been able to secure some small cannon, which he placed on some of his larger canoes.
1	Ka	Ka	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	meha	meha	X	FW	Foreign=Yes	1	dep	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	meha	meha	X	FW	Foreign=Yes	1	dep	_	_
6	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
7	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	8	cop	_	_
8	able	able	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	secure	secure	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	xcomp	_	_
11	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	13	det	_	_
12	small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	cannon	cannon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
15	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	17	nsubj	_	_
16	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
17	placed	place	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	acl:relcl	_	_
18	on	on	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	17	obl	_	_
20	of	of	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
21	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	23	nmod:poss	_	_
22	larger	large	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	23	amod	_	_
23	canoes	canoe	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past · perfect | Ka |  |  |  |  | able *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **secure** | to-infinitive | Ka *not said here* | some small cannon |  |  |  |  | vn ensure-99 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition cannon=Theme |
| 3 | **place** | past | some small cannon |  |  | some of Kahekili's larger canoes |  | Kahekili *nsubj* | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V PP.destination NP»: agent=Agent on some=Destination |

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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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