---
title: Ai-laau seemed to be destructive and was so named by the people, but… — Hawaiian Legends of Volcanoes (mythology) · tree and pragmatics
description: Ai-laau seemed to be destructive and was so named by the people, but his fires were a part of the forces of creation. Who acts: Ai laau, people, fires, laau. A sentence of «Hawaiian Legends of Volcanoes (mythology)» by W. D. Westervelt, Ai-laau, the Forest Eater, with its dependency tree and the pra
---

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# Hawaiian Legends of Volcanoes (mythology), Ai-laau, the Forest Eater, sentence 8

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Ai-laau seemed to be destructive and was so named by the people, but his fires were a part of the forces of creation.

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**Who acts:** Ai laau, people, fires, laau · **What happens:** seem, be, name, fire · **To what, where:** part

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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 (Ai laau, people, fires, laau), 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:pg66516:4:8
# text = Ai-laau seemed to be destructive and was so named by the people, but his fires were a part of the forces of creation.
1	Ai	ai	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	laau	laau	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	seemed	seem	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
6	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	cop	_	_
7	destructive	destructive	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	xcomp	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
9	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	aux:pass	_	_
10	so	so	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
11	named	name	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	conj	_	_
12	by	by	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
16	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
17	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	18	nmod:poss	_	_
18	fires	fire	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	nsubj	_	_
19	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	cop	_	_
20	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	part	part	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	parataxis	_	_
22	of	of	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	forces	force	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	nmod	_	_
25	of	of	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
26	creation	creation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **seem** | past | Ai laau |  |  |  |  |  | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **is** | to-infinitive | Ai laau *not said here* |  |  |  |  | destructive *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **name** | past · passive | the people |  |  |  |  |  | vn appoint-29.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **is a** | past | laau's fires | a part |  |  |  | of the forces of creation | tree rules |
| 5 | **fire** |  | laau |  |  |  |  |  | nom fire «event transitive»: poss=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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