---
title: A chief laughed at Hiiaka, saying, “These are dragon-gods, and yet y… — Hawaiian Legends of Volcanoes (mythology) · tree and pragmatics
description: A chief laughed at Hiiaka, saying, “These are dragon-gods, and yet you dispute with them!” Who acts: chief, These, you. A sentence of «Hawaiian Legends of Volcanoes (mythology)» by W. D. Westervelt, Pili and Noho, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Hawaiian Legends of Volcanoes (mythology), Pili and Noho, sentence 16

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A chief laughed at Hiiaka, saying, “These are dragon-gods, and yet you dispute with them!”

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**Who acts:** chief, These, you · **What happens:** laugh, say, be, dispute · **To what, where:** Hiiaka, dragon gods · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Hawaiian Legends of Volcanoes (mythology)» by W. D. Westervelt, Pili and Noho. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (chief, These, you), 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:pg66516:20:16
# text = A chief laughed at Hiiaka, saying, “These are dragon-gods, and yet you dispute with them!”
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	chief	chief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	laughed	laugh	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	at	at	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	Hiiaka	Hiiaka	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
7	saying	say	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
9	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	14	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	These	this	PRON	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	14	nsubj	_	_
11	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	14	cop	_	_
12	dragon	dragon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	gods	god	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
17	yet	yet	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	_
18	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
19	dispute	dispute	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
20	with	with	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	obl	_	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 | **laugh** | past | a chief |  |  | Hiiaka |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **say** *speech: express* | gerund | a chief *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | These | dragon gods |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **dispute** *in a quote* | present | you |  |  |  | yet | with gods *= god* | vn battle-36.4 «NP V PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent with they=Co-Agent |

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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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