---
title: Among the ancient Hawaiians it was believed that the eyes of prophet… — Hawaiian Legends of Volcanoes (mythology) · tree and pragmatics
description: Among the ancient Hawaiians it was believed that the eyes of prophets could tell the very family to which a high chief belonged by the color or peculiar appearance of the light around the individual even when a long distance away. Who acts: eyes. A sentence of «Hawaiian Legends of Volcanoes (mytholo
---

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# Hawaiian Legends of Volcanoes (mythology), Hiiaka Catching a Ghost, sentence 96

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Among the ancient Hawaiians it was believed that the eyes of prophets could tell the very family to which a high chief belonged by the color or peculiar appearance of the light around the individual even when a long distance away.

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**Who acts:** eyes · **What happens:** believe, tell, belong · **To what, where:** ancient Hawaiians, family, high chief · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Hawaiian Legends of Volcanoes (mythology)» by W. D. Westervelt, Hiiaka Catching a Ghost. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (eyes), 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:pg66516:18:96
# text = Among the ancient Hawaiians it was believed that the eyes of prophets could tell the very family to which a high chief belonged by the color or peculiar appearance of the light around the individual even when a long distance away.
1	Among	among	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	ancient	ancient	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	Hawaiians	Hawaiian	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj:pass	_	_
5	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj:pass	_	_
6	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux:pass	_	_
7	believed	believe	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
8	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	nsubj	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	prophets	prophet	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	nmod	_	_
13	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
14	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	advcl	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
16	very	very	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	_
17	family	family	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	_
18	to	to	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	17	nmod	_	_
20	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
21	high	high	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	amod	_	_
22	chief	chief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nsubj	_	_
23	belonged	belong	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	22	acl	_	_
24	by	by	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	color	color	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	_
27	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
28	peculiar	peculiar	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	compound	_	_
29	appearance	appearance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	conj	_	_
30	of	of	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	light	light	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	nmod	_	_
33	around	around	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	individual	individual	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	nmod	_	_
36	even	even	ADV	RB	_	41	advmod	_	_
37	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	41	mark	_	_
38	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
39	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	40	amod	_	_
40	distance	distance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	obl:unmarked	_	_
41	away	away	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **believe** | past · passive |  | the ancient Hawaiians |  |  |  | chief *nsubj:pass* | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Stimulus |
| 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* | could | the eyes of prophets | the family |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent family=Topic to which=Recipient |
| 3 | **belong** | participle |  | a high chief *not said here* |  |  |  | by the color around the individual or peculiar appearance of the light; away *property* | vn attend-107.4-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme |

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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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