---
title: When Maui was born his mother, not caring for him, cut off a lock of… — Hawaiian Historical Legends · tree and pragmatics
description: When Maui was born his mother, not caring for him, cut off a lock of her hair, tied it around him and cast him into the sea. Who acts: you. A sentence of «Hawaiian Historical Legends» by W. D. Westervelt, Maui the Polynesian, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Hawaiian Historical Legends, Maui the Polynesian, sentence 11

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When Maui was born his mother, not caring for him, cut off a lock of her hair, tied it around him and cast him into the sea.

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**Who acts:** you · **What happens:** bear, not care, cut off, tie, cast · **To what, where:** Maui, lock, sea

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This is a sentence of «Hawaiian Historical Legends» by W. D. Westervelt, Maui the Polynesian. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (you), 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:pg66357:2:11
# text = When Maui was born his mother, not caring for him, cut off a lock of her hair, tied it around him and cast him into the sea.
1	When	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	Maui	Maui	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux:pass	_	_
4	born	bear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	13	advcl	_	_
5	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
8	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	9	advmod	_	_
9	caring	care	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	4	advcl	_	_
10	for	for	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
13	cut	cut	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
14	off	off	ADP	RP	_	13	compound:prt	_	_
15	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	lock	lock	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	_
17	of	of	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	19	nmod:poss	_	_
19	hair	hair	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
21	tied	tie	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	parataxis	_	_
22	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	obj	_	_
23	around	around	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	obl	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
26	cast	cast	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	conj	_	_
27	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	obj	_	_
28	into	into	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	13	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **bear** | past · passive |  | Maui |  |  |  | Maui's mother *obj* | vn birth-28.2-1-1 «NP V NP NP»: subject=Beneficiary mother=Patient |
| 2 | **not** **care** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | for Maui | vn caring-75.2-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent for he=Theme |
| 3 | **cut off** | imperative | you *not said here* | a lock of her hair |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: agent=Affector lock=Eventuality |
| 4 | **tie** | past |  | lock |  |  |  | around Maui | vn mix-22.1-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Patient |
| 5 | **cast** | past |  | Maui |  | the sea |  |  | vn build-26.1 «NP V NP.material PP.product»: agent=Agent he=Material into sea=Product |

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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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