---
title: Some of the chiefs had already said, “It may be the will of the gods… — Hawaiian Historical Legends · tree and pragmatics
description: Some of the chiefs had already said, “It may be the will of the gods that the high priest become the high chief also.” Who acts: family, gods. 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 212

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Some of the chiefs had already said, “It may be the will of the gods that the high priest become the high chief also.”

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**Who acts:** family, gods · **What happens:** say, be, become · **To what, where:** Some, high chief · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (family, gods), 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:pg66357:8:212
# text = Some of the chiefs had already said, “It may be the will of the gods that the high priest become the high chief also.”
1	Some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	7	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	chiefs	chief	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	nmod	_	_
5	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
6	already	already	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	said	say	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
9	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	17	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
11	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
12	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	cop	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
14	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
15	of	of	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	gods	god	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obl	_	_
18	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	22	nsubj	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
20	high	high	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	amod	_	_
21	priest	priest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nsubj	_	_
22	become	become	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	17	acl:relcl	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
24	high	high	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	amod	_	_
25	chief	chief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	xcomp	_	_
26	also	also	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past · perfect · passive |  | Some of the chiefs |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: subject=Topic |
| 2 | **is** *in a quote* | may · future | family |  |  |  |  | of the gods | tree rules |
| 3 | **become** *in a quote* | present | the gods | the high chief |  |  |  | the high priest *nsubj* | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=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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