---
title: Alexander says in his history of the islands: “During the days of Ka… — Hawaiian Historical Legends · tree and pragmatics
description: Alexander says in his history of the islands: “During the days of Ka-meha-meha energetic measures were taken for the suppression of brigandage, murder and theft throughout the kingdom.” Who acts: Alexander. A sentence of «Hawaiian Historical Legends» by W. D. Westervelt, The Law of the Splintered Pa
---

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# Hawaiian Historical Legends, The Law of the Splintered Paddle, sentence 205

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Alexander says in his history of the islands: “During the days of Ka-meha-meha energetic measures were taken for the suppression of brigandage, murder and theft throughout the kingdom.”

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**Who acts:** Alexander · **What happens:** say, take, suppress · **To what, where:** history, energetic measures, brigandage · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Hawaiian Historical Legends» by W. D. Westervelt, The Law of the Splintered Paddle. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Alexander), 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:pg66357:18:205
# text = Alexander says in his history of the islands: “During the days of Ka-meha-meha energetic measures were taken for the suppression of brigandage, murder and theft throughout the kingdom.”
1	Alexander	Alexander	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	in	in	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	history	history	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	islands	island	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	13	punct	_	_
10	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	During	during	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	days	day	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	parataxis	_	_
14	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	Ka	Ka	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	13	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	17	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	meha	meha	X	FW	Foreign=Yes	15	dep	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	19	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	meha	meha	X	FW	Foreign=Yes	17	conj	_	_
20	energetic	energetic	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	amod	_	_
21	measures	measure	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	nsubj:pass	_	_
22	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	aux:pass	_	_
23	taken	take	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	19	parataxis	_	_
24	for	for	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	suppression	suppression	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	_
27	of	of	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
28	brigandage	brigandage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
30	murder	murder	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	conj	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
32	theft	theft	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	conj	_	_
33	throughout	throughout	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	kingdom	kingdom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | Alexander |  |  | Alexander's history of the islands |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **take** *in a quote* | past · passive |  | energetic measures |  |  |  | for the suppression of brigandage and murder throughout the kingdom and theft | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: subject=Theme for suppression=Beneficiary |
| 3 | **suppress** *in a quote* |  |  | brigandage |  |  |  |  | nom suppression «process 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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