---
title: If we sift the legends and then assume that in the course of three o… — Hawaiian Historical Legends · tree and pragmatics
description: If we sift the legends and then assume that in the course of three or four hundred years the family of the chief, Hawaii-loa, became extinct in Hawaii, leaving only the servants on the islands, we have at least a probable explanation of the coming of the so-called little people, or fairies, from the
---

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# Hawaiian Historical Legends, A Viking of the Pacific, sentence 51

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If we sift the legends and then assume that in the course of three or four hundred years the family of the chief, Hawaii-loa, became extinct in Hawaii, leaving only the servants on the islands, we have at least a probable explanation of the coming of the so-called little people, or fairies, from the Southern Pacific to Hawaii.

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**Who acts:** we, coming called little people · **What happens:** sift, assume, become, leave, have, come · **To what, where:** legends, course, servants, islands, probable explanation, least · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Hawaiian Historical Legends» by W. D. Westervelt, A Viking of the Pacific. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (we, coming called little people), 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:pg66357:5:51
# text = If we sift the legends and then assume that in the course of three or four hundred years the family of the chief, Hawaii-loa, became extinct in Hawaii, leaving only the servants on the islands, we have at least a probable explanation of the coming of the so-called little people, or fairies, from the Southern Pacific to Hawaii.
1	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	3	mark	_	_
2	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	sift	sift	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	43	advcl	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	legends	legend	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
7	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	8	advmod	_	_
8	assume	assume	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	conj	_	_
9	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	29	mark	_	_
10	in	in	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	course	course	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	_
13	of	of	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
14	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	17	compound	_	_
15	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
16	four	four	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	14	conj	_	_
17	hundred	hundred	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	18	nummod	_	_
18	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	nmod	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	family	family	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	appos	_	_
21	of	of	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	chief	chief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
25	Hawaii	Hawaii	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	27	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	25	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	loa	loa	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
29	became	become	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	ccomp	_	_
30	extinct	extinct	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	xcomp	_	_
31	in	in	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
32	Hawaii	Hawaii	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	30	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
34	leaving	leave	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	29	advcl	_	_
35	only	only	ADV	RB	_	37	advmod	_	_
36	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
37	servants	servant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	34	obj	_	_
38	on	on	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
39	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
40	islands	island	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	37	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
42	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	43	nsubj	_	_
43	have	have	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
44	at	at	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
45	least	least	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	48	nmod	_	_
46	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	48	det	_	_
47	probable	probable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	48	amod	_	_
48	explanation	explanation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	obj	_	_
49	of	of	ADP	IN	_	58	case	_	_
50	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	58	det	_	_
51	coming	come	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	58	amod	_	_
52	of	of	ADP	IN	_	58	case	_	_
53	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	58	det	_	_
54	so	so	ADV	RB	_	56	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
55	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	54	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
56	called	call	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	58	amod	_	_
57	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	58	amod	_	_
58	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	48	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
59	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	61	punct	_	_
60	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	61	cc	_	_
61	fairies	fairy	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	58	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
62	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	66	punct	_	_
63	from	from	ADP	IN	_	66	case	_	_
64	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	66	det	_	_
65	Southern	Southern	PROPN	NNP	_	66	flat	_	_
66	Pacific	Pacific	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	58	appos	_	_
67	to	to	ADP	IN	_	68	case	_	_
68	Hawaii	Hawaii	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	66	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
69	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	43	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sift** *a condition, not said to happen* | present | we | the legends |  |  |  |  | vn disassemble-23.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent legend=Patient |
| 2 | **assume** | infinitive | we *not said here* |  |  |  | then |  | vn conjecture-29.5 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 3 | **become** | past | we *not said here* |  |  |  |  | in the course of hundred years *result*; extinct *property* | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient in course=Result |
| 4 | **leave** | gerund | we *not said here* | the servants |  | the islands |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent servant=Theme on island=Location |
| 5 | **have** | present | we | a probable explanation of the coming called little people or fairies |  | least |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent explanation=Patient |
| 6 | **come** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 7 | **call** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 8 | **explain** |  | the coming called little people or fairies |  |  |  |  |  | nom explanation «communication intransitive»: of=agent |

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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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