---
title: Human sacrifices at the launchings of the canoes of chiefs were not… — Hawaiian Historical Legends · tree and pragmatics
description: Human sacrifices at the launchings of the canoes of chiefs were not at all unusual, but the two young chiefs from the mountains had never before known such wholesale slaughter. Who acts: Human sacrifices. A sentence of «Hawaiian Historical Legends» by W. D. Westervelt, The Sons of Kii, with its depe
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66357/7/26/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Hawaiian Historical Legends](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66357/) / [The Sons of Kii](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66357/7/) / 26

# Hawaiian Historical Legends, The Sons of Kii, sentence 26

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Human sacrifices at the launchings of the canoes of chiefs were not at all unusual, but the two young chiefs from the mountains had never before known such wholesale slaughter.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Human sacrifices · **What happens:** not be, know · **To what, where:** all, two young chiefs

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Hawaiian Historical Legends» by W. D. Westervelt, The Sons of Kii. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Human sacrifices), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg66357:7:26
# text = Human sacrifices at the launchings of the canoes of chiefs were not at all unusual, but the two young chiefs from the mountains had never before known such wholesale slaughter.
1	Human	human	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	sacrifices	sacrifice	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	nsubj	_	_
3	at	at	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	launchings	launching	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nmod	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	canoes	canoe	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nmod	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	chiefs	chief	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nmod	_	_
11	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	cop	_	_
12	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	15	advmod	_	_
13	at	at	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	15	obl	_	_
15	unusual	unusual	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
17	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
19	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	21	nummod	_	_
20	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	amod	_	_
21	chiefs	chief	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	28	nsubj:pass	_	_
22	from	from	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	mountains	mountain	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	nmod	_	_
25	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	28	aux	_	_
26	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	27	advmod	_	_
27	before	before	ADV	RB	_	28	advmod	_	_
28	known	know	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	15	conj	_	_
29	such	such	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	31	amod	_	_
30	wholesale	wholesale	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	31	amod	_	_
31	slaughter	slaughter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	15	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **is** | past | Human sacrifices at the launchings of the canoes of chiefs |  |  | all |  | unusual *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **know** | past · perfect · passive |  | the two young chiefs from the mountains |  |  | never | such wholesale slaughter *xcomp*; before *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: subject=Stimulus |

<!-- .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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 25](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66357/7/25/)
- next →: [sentence 27](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66357/7/27/)
- ↑ back to [The Sons of Kii](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66357/7/)