---
title: They are called “The Pit Craters” because they are not hills of lava… — Hawaiian Legends of Volcanoes (mythology) · tree and pragmatics
description: They are called “The Pit Craters” because they are not hills of lava, but a series of sunken pits going deep down into the earth, some of them still having blowholes of sputtering steam and smoke. Who acts: legends, sunken pits, series, blowholes. A sentence of «Hawaiian Legends of Volcanoes (mythol
---

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# Hawaiian Legends of Volcanoes (mythology), Ai-laau, the Forest Eater, sentence 20

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They are called “The Pit Craters” because they are not hills of lava, but a series of sunken pits going deep down into the earth, some of them still having blowholes of sputtering steam and smoke.

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**Who acts:** legends, sunken pits, series, blowholes · **What happens:** call, not be, go, have, sputter · **To what, where:** legends, hills, earth, blowholes, steam · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Hawaiian Legends of Volcanoes (mythology)» by W. D. Westervelt, Ai-laau, the Forest Eater. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (legends, sunken pits, series, blowholes), 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:pg66516:4:20
# text = They are called “The Pit Craters” because they are not hills of lava, but a series of sunken pits going deep down into the earth, some of them still having blowholes of sputtering steam and smoke.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	called	call	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	Pit	Pit	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	Craters	Crater	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	7	punct	_	_
9	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
10	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
11	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	13	cop	_	_
12	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	13	advmod	_	_
13	hills	hill	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	xcomp	_	_
14	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	lava	lava	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
17	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
18	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	series	series	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	nsubj	_	_
20	of	of	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	sunken	sunken	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	amod	_	_
22	pits	pit	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	nmod	_	_
23	going	go	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	22	acl	_	_
24	deep	deep	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	_
25	down	down	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	_
26	into	into	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	earth	earth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
30	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	34	nsubj	_	_
31	of	of	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
32	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	nmod	_	_
33	still	still	ADV	RB	_	34	advmod	_	_
34	having	have	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	advcl	_	_
35	blowholes	blowhole	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	34	obj	_	_
36	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	37	mark	_	_
37	sputtering	sputter	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	35	acl	_	_
38	steam	steam	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	obj	_	_
39	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	40	cc	_	_
40	smoke	smoke	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **call** | present · passive |  | legends *= legend* |  |  |  | the Pit Craters *obl* | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: subject=Recipient |
| 2 | **not** **is a** | present | legends *= legend* | hills |  |  |  | of lava | tree rules |
| 3 | **go** | gerund | sunken pits *not said here* |  |  | the earth |  | down *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme into earth=Initial\_Location |
| 4 | **have** | gerund | a series of sunken pits | blowholes |  |  | still |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent blowhole=Patient |
| 5 | **sputter** | gerund | blowholes *not said here* | steam and smoke |  |  |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location steam=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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