---
title: As a native writer says: “The foundation of the law of the splintere… — Hawaiian Historical Legends · tree and pragmatics
description: As a native writer says: “The foundation of the law of the splintered paddle was the greed and shame of a chief dealing with a common man.” Who acts: native writer, foundation, chief. A sentence of «Hawaiian Historical Legends» by W. D. Westervelt, The Law of the Splintered Paddle, with its dependen
---

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# Hawaiian Historical Legends, The Law of the Splintered Paddle, sentence 7

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As a native writer says: “The foundation of the law of the splintered paddle was the greed and shame of a chief dealing with a common man.”

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**Who acts:** native writer, foundation, chief · **What happens:** say, splinter, be, deal, shame · **To what, where:** greed, chief · **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 (native writer, foundation, chief), 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:pg66357:18:7
# text = As a native writer says: “The foundation of the law of the splintered paddle was the greed and shame of a chief dealing with a common man.”
1	As	as	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	native	native	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	writer	writer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	9	punct	_	_
7	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	foundation	foundation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nsubj	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	law	law	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	_
13	of	of	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
15	splintered	splinter	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	16	amod	_	_
16	paddle	paddle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nmod	_	_
17	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	cop	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	greed	greed	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	ccomp	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
21	shame	shame	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	conj	_	_
22	of	of	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	chief	chief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nmod	_	_
25	dealing	deal	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	24	acl	_	_
26	with	with	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
27	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
28	common	common	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
29	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	19	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	5	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 | a native writer |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **splinter** *in a quote* | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn break-45.1 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 3 | **is a** *in a quote* | past | the foundation of the law of the splintered paddle | the greed and shame of a chief |  |  |  | shame of a chief *conj* | tree rules |
| 4 | **deal** *in a quote* | gerund | a chief *not said here* |  |  |  |  | with a common man | vn cope-83 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent with man=Theme |
| 5 | **shame** *in a quote* |  |  | a chief |  |  |  |  | nom shame «feeling 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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