---
title: The high chiefs of “the good old days of Hawaii” had certain preroga… — Hawaiian Historical Legends · tree and pragmatics
description: The high chiefs of “the good old days of Hawaii” had certain prerogatives which were never questioned. Who acts: high chiefs. A sentence of «Hawaiian Historical Legends» by W. D. Westervelt, Paao From Samoa, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Hawaiian Historical Legends, Paao From Samoa, sentence 159

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The high chiefs of “the good old days of Hawaii” had certain prerogatives which were never questioned.

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**Who acts:** high chiefs · **What happens:** have, not question · **To what, where:** certain prerogatives

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This is a sentence of «Hawaiian Historical Legends» by W. D. Westervelt, Paao From Samoa. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (high chiefs), 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:pg66357:8:159
# text = The high chiefs of “the good old days of Hawaii” had certain prerogatives which were never questioned.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	high	high	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	chiefs	chief	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	nsubj	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
5	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
7	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
8	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	days	day	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	obl	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	Hawaii	Hawaii	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	11	punct	_	_
13	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
14	certain	certain	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	prerogatives	prerogative	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	obj	_	_
16	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	19	nsubj:pass	_	_
17	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	aux:pass	_	_
18	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	19	advmod	_	_
19	questioned	question	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	15	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	13	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past | the high chiefs | certain prerogatives |  |  | day | Hawaii *nsubj* | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent prerogative=Patient |
| 2 | **not** **question** *speech: other* | past · passive |  | certain prerogatives |  |  |  |  | vn interrogate-37.1.3 «NP V NP»: subject=Recipient |

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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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