---
title: In Kau we had quite a sprinkling of Pele’s hair, peculiar earthquake… — Hawaiian Legends of Volcanoes (mythology) · tree and pragmatics
description: In Kau we had quite a sprinkling of Pele’s hair, peculiar earthquakes—first hard shakes, then a swaying motion, as if the whole island were swaying back and forth and we with it. Who acts: we, whole island. A sentence of «Hawaiian Legends of Volcanoes (mythology)» by W. D. Westervelt, Volcanic Activ
---

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# Hawaiian Legends of Volcanoes (mythology), Volcanic Activity, sentence 19

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In Kau we had quite a sprinkling of Pele’s hair, peculiar earthquakes—first hard shakes, then a swaying motion, as if the whole island were swaying back and forth and we with it.

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**Who acts:** we, whole island · **What happens:** have, sway · **To what, where:** sprinkling, Kau

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This is a sentence of «Hawaiian Legends of Volcanoes (mythology)» by W. D. Westervelt, Volcanic Activity. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (we, whole island), 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:pg66516:27:19
# text = In Kau we had quite a sprinkling of Pele’s hair, peculiar earthquakes—first hard shakes, then a swaying motion, as if the whole island were swaying back and forth and we with it.
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	Kau	Kau	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
3	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	quite	quite	DET	PDT	PronType=Ind	7	det:predet	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	sprinkling	sprinkling	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
9	Pele	Pele	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	’s	's	PART	POS	_	9	case	_	_
11	hair	hair	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
13	peculiar	peculiar	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	compound	_	_
14	earthquakes	earthquake	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	18	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	first	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	17	advmod	_	_
17	hard	hard	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	shakes	shake	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
20	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	23	advmod	_	_
21	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
22	swaying	sway	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	23	amod	_	_
23	motion	motion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
25	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	31	mark	_	_
26	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	31	mark	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
28	whole	whole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
29	island	island	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	nsubj	_	_
30	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	aux	_	_
31	swaying	sway	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	4	conj	_	_
32	back	back	ADV	RB	_	31	advmod	_	_
33	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
34	forth	forth	ADV	RB	_	32	conj	_	_
35	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	38	cc	_	_
36	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	38	nsubj	_	_
37	with	with	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
38	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past | we | quite sprinkling of Pele's hair and peculiar earthquakes and hard shakes  a swaying motion |  | Kau |  | island *conj* | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sprinkling=Patient |
| 2 | **sway** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn modes\_of\_being\_with\_motion-47.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **sway** *a condition, not said to happen* | past · progressive | the whole island |  |  |  |  |  | vn modes\_of\_being\_with\_motion-47.3 «NP V»: 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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