---
title: Some writers have thought that Samoa might be the center of dispersi… — Hawaiian Historical Legends · tree and pragmatics
description: Some writers have thought that Samoa might be the center of dispersion to the other Pacific islands, but the Samoan dialect is very corrupt, its legends are fragmentary, and its history of sea rovers seems to lack a sufficient similarity of names with the migrators from the original home to allow th
---

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# Hawaiian Historical Legends, Legendary Home of the Polynesians, sentence 24

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Some writers have thought that Samoa might be the center of dispersion to the other Pacific islands, but the Samoan dialect is very corrupt, its legends are fragmentary, and its history of sea rovers seems to lack a sufficient similarity of names with the migrators from the original home to allow this supposition to have very great weight.

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**Who acts:** Samoa, Samoan dialect, legends, history · **What happens:** think, be, seem, lack, allow, have · **To what, where:** writers, center, sufficient similarity, supposition, great weight

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This is a sentence of «Hawaiian Historical Legends» by W. D. Westervelt, Legendary Home of the Polynesians. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Samoa, Samoan dialect, legends, history), 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:pg66357:6:24
# text = Some writers have thought that Samoa might be the center of dispersion to the other Pacific islands, but the Samoan dialect is very corrupt, its legends are fragmentary, and its history of sea rovers seems to lack a sufficient similarity of names with the migrators from the original home to allow this supposition to have very great weight.
1	Some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	2	det	_	_
2	writers	writer	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	thought	think	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
6	Samoa	Samoa	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
7	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
8	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	cop	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	center	center	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	xcomp	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	dispersion	dispersion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	_
13	to	to	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
15	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
16	Pacific	Pacific	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	17	compound	_	_
17	islands	island	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
19	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
21	Samoan	samoan	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	amod	_	_
22	dialect	dialect	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nsubj	_	_
23	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	25	cop	_	_
24	very	very	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	_
25	corrupt	corrupt	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
27	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	28	nmod:poss	_	_
28	legends	legend	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	30	nsubj	_	_
29	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	30	cop	_	_
30	fragmentary	fragmentary	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
32	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	38	cc	_	_
33	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	34	nmod:poss	_	_
34	history	history	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	nsubj	_	_
35	of	of	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
36	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	compound	_	_
37	rovers	rover	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	34	nmod	_	_
38	seems	seem	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
39	to	to	PART	TO	_	40	mark	_	_
40	lack	lack	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	38	xcomp	_	_
41	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	43	det	_	_
42	sufficient	sufficient	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	43	amod	_	_
43	similarity	similarity	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	obj	_	_
44	of	of	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
45	names	name	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	43	nmod	_	_
46	with	with	ADP	IN	_	48	case	_	_
47	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	48	det	_	_
48	migrators	migrator	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	45	nmod	_	_
49	from	from	ADP	IN	_	52	case	_	_
50	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	52	det	_	_
51	original	original	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	52	amod	_	_
52	home	home	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	nmod	_	_
53	to	to	PART	TO	_	54	mark	_	_
54	allow	allow	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	40	advcl	_	_
55	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	56	det	_	_
56	supposition	supposition	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	54	obj	_	_
57	to	to	PART	TO	_	58	mark	_	_
58	have	have	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	56	acl	_	_
59	very	very	ADV	RB	_	60	advmod	_	_
60	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	61	amod	_	_
61	weight	weight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	58	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
62	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **think** *speech: other* | present · perfect · passive |  | some writers |  |  |  |  | vn wish-62 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 2 | **is a** | might | Samoa | the center |  |  |  | of dispersion; to the other Pacific islands | tree rules |
| 3 | **is** | present | the Samoan dialect |  |  |  |  | corrupt *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **is** | present | dispersion's legends |  |  |  |  | fragmentary *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **seem** | present | dispersion's history of sea rovers |  |  |  |  |  | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme clause=Attribute |
| 6 | **lack** | to-infinitive | dispersion's history of sea rovers *not said here* | a sufficient similarity of names with the migrators from the original home |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **allow** | to-infinitive | dispersion's history of sea rovers *not said here* | this supposition |  |  |  |  | vn allow-64.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent supposition=Beneficiary |
| 8 | **have** | to-infinitive | dispersion's history of sea rovers *not said here* | great weight |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent weight=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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