---
title: But the astute Ka-meha-meha, while looking for English protection fr… — Hawaiian Historical Legends · tree and pragmatics
description: But the astute Ka-meha-meha, while looking for English protection from the greed of other nations, stipulated that the Hawaiians should “govern themselves in their own way and according to such laws as they themselves might impose.” Who acts: astute Ka, Hawaiians. A sentence of «Hawaiian Historical 
---

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# Hawaiian Historical Legends, The Hawaiian Flag, sentence 15

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But the astute Ka-meha-meha, while looking for English protection from the greed of other nations, stipulated that the Hawaiians should “govern themselves in their own way and according to such laws as they themselves might impose.”

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**Who acts:** astute Ka, Hawaiians · **What happens:** look, stipulate, govern, accord, impose · **To what, where:** Hawaiians, own way

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This is a sentence of «Hawaiian Historical Legends» by W. D. Westervelt, The Hawaiian Flag. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (astute Ka, Hawaiians), 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:pg66357:22:15
# text = But the astute Ka-meha-meha, while looking for English protection from the greed of other nations, stipulated that the Hawaiians should “govern themselves in their own way and according to such laws as they themselves might impose.”
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	astute	astute	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	Ka	Ka	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	22	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	meha	meha	X	FW	Foreign=Yes	4	dep	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	meha	meha	X	FW	Foreign=Yes	6	flat:foreign	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
10	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
11	looking	look	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	4	conj	_	_
12	for	for	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	English	English	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	14	compound	_	_
14	protection	protection	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	_
15	from	from	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	greed	greed	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	_
18	of	of	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
20	nations	nation	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
22	stipulated	stipulate	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
23	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	28	mark	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	Hawaiians	Hawaiian	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	28	nsubj	_	_
26	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	28	aux	_	_
27	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	28	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	govern	govern	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	advcl	_	_
29	themselves	themselves	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	28	obj	_	_
30	in	in	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
31	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	33	nmod:poss	_	_
32	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	33	amod	_	_
33	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	_
34	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	38	cc	_	_
35	according	accord	VERB	VBG	ExtPos=ADP|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	38	case	_	_
36	to	to	ADP	IN	_	35	fixed	_	_
37	such	such	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	38	amod	_	_
38	laws	law	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	33	conj	_	_
39	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	43	mark	_	_
40	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	43	nsubj	_	_
41	themselves	themselves	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Emp|Reflex=Yes	40	nmod:unmarked	_	_
42	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	43	aux	_	_
43	impose	impose	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	28	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	22	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	22	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **look** | gerund | the astute Ka *not said here* |  |  |  |  | for English protection; from the greed of other nations | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent from greed=Theme |
| 2 | **stipulate** | participle | the astute Ka |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **govern** *in a quote* | should | the Hawaiians | Hawaiians *= hawaiian* |  | Hawaiians's own way and such laws |  |  | vn supervision-95.2.2 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent themselves=Theme |
| 4 | **accord** *in a quote* | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn future\_having-13.3 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **impose** *in a quote* | might | Hawaiians *= hawaiian* |  |  |  |  |  | vn enforce-63 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .note -->
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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