---
title: The birds said, “We saw her skirt moving against the gods, up and do… — Hawaiian Legends of Volcanoes (mythology) · tree and pragmatics
description: The birds said, “We saw her skirt moving against the gods, up and down, back and forth.” Who acts: birds, We, skirt. A sentence of «Hawaiian Legends of Volcanoes (mythology)» by W. D. Westervelt, Hiiaka’s Battle With Demons, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Hawaiian Legends of Volcanoes (mythology), Hiiaka’s Battle With Demons, sentence 75

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The birds said, “We saw her skirt moving against the gods, up and down, back and forth.”

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**Who acts:** birds, We, skirt · **What happens:** say, see, move · **To what, where:** skirt · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Hawaiian Legends of Volcanoes (mythology)» by W. D. Westervelt, Hiiaka’s Battle With Demons. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (birds, We, skirt), 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:pg66516:16:75
# text = The birds said, “We saw her skirt moving against the gods, up and down, back and forth.”
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
5	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	We	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
7	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	ccomp	_	_
8	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	skirt	skirt	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
10	moving	move	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	9	acl	_	_
11	against	against	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	gods	god	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
15	up	up	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
17	down	down	ADV	RB	_	15	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
19	back	back	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
21	forth	forth	ADV	RB	_	19	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	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 | the birds |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **see** *in a quote* | past | We | follower's skirt |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer skirt=Stimulus |
| 3 | **move** *in a quote* | gerund | follower's skirt *not said here* |  |  |  |  | against the gods | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V PP.trajectory»: agent=Theme against god=Trajectory |

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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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