---
title: For a long, long time the Hawaiians have had the proverb “Never abus… — Hawaiian Legends of Volcanoes (mythology) · tree and pragmatics
description: For a long, long time the Hawaiians have had the proverb “Never abuse an old woman; she might be Pele.” Who acts: Hawaiians, woman. A sentence of «Hawaiian Legends of Volcanoes (mythology)» by W. D. Westervelt, Pele and Kaha-wali, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Hawaiian Legends of Volcanoes (mythology), Pele and Kaha-wali, sentence 1

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For a long, long time the Hawaiians have had the proverb “Never abuse an old woman; she might be Pele.”

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**Who acts:** Hawaiians, woman · **What happens:** have, not abuse, be · **To what, where:** proverb, old woman, Pele · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Hawaiian Legends of Volcanoes (mythology)» by W. D. Westervelt, Pele and Kaha-wali. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Hawaiians, woman), 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:pg66516:10:1
# text = For a long, long time the Hawaiians have had the proverb “Never abuse an old woman; she might be Pele.”
1	For	for	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
3	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
5	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	Hawaiians	Hawaiian	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	10	nsubj	_	_
9	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
10	had	have	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	proverb	proverb	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	_
13	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	15	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	Never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	15	advmod	_	_
15	abuse	abuse	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	10	parataxis	_	_
16	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
17	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
20	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
21	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	23	aux	_	_
22	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	cop	_	_
23	Pele	Pele	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	15	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	15	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | present · perfect | the Hawaiians | the proverb |  |  | time |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **not** **abuse** *in a quote* | infinitive |  | a old woman |  |  |  |  | vn judgment-33.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent woman=Theme |
| 3 | **is a** *in a quote* | might | woman | Pele |  |  |  |  | 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 Legends of Volcanoes (mythology)» by W. D. Westervelt, Project Gutenberg book 66516 (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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