---
title: This, as Fornander says, was “because the ancestors of the islanders… — Hawaiian Historical Legends · tree and pragmatics
description: This, as Fornander says, was “because the ancestors of the islanders came from the west originally.” Who acts: This, ancestors. A sentence of «Hawaiian Historical Legends» by W. D. Westervelt, Legendary Home of the Polynesians, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Hawaiian Historical Legends, Legendary Home of the Polynesians, sentence 36

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This, as Fornander says, was “because the ancestors of the islanders came from the west originally.”

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**Who acts:** This, ancestors · **What happens:** say, be · **To what, where:** west · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (This, ancestors), 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:pg66357:6:36
# text = This, as Fornander says, was “because the ancestors of the islanders came from the west originally.”
1	This	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	5	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
3	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
4	Fornander	Fornander	PROPN	NNP	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	,	_	15	punct	_	_
7	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	cop	_	_
8	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	15	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	ancestors	ancestor	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	nsubj	_	_
12	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	islanders	islander	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	nmod	_	_
15	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	ccomp	_	_
16	from	from	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	west	west	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	_
19	originally	originally	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	”	"	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 | This |  |  |  |  | Fornander *nsubj* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **is** *in a quote* | past | the ancestors of the islanders |  |  | the west |  | come, originally *property* | tree rules |

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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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