---
title: It was a curious element of old Hawaiian belief, but they did believ… — Hawaiian Legends of Volcanoes (mythology) · tree and pragmatics
description: It was a curious element of old Hawaiian belief, but they did believe that demi-gods and supernatural beings had au-makuas, or ghost-gods, the spirits of their ancestors, to whom they prayed and offered sacrifice as if they were common people and needed ghost-gods to take care of them. Who acts: lig
---

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# Hawaiian Legends of Volcanoes (mythology), Pele and the Owl Ghost-god, sentence 34

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It was a curious element of old Hawaiian belief, but they did believe that demi-gods and supernatural beings had au-makuas, or ghost-gods, the spirits of their ancestors, to whom they prayed and offered sacrifice as if they were common people and needed ghost-gods to take care of them.

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**Who acts:** lightning, chiefs, demi gods · **What happens:** be, believe, have, pray, offer, need · **To what, where:** curious element, au makuas, sacrifice, ghost gods, care · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Hawaiian Legends of Volcanoes (mythology)» by W. D. Westervelt, Pele and the Owl Ghost-god. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (lightning, chiefs, demi gods), 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:pg66516:6:34
# text = It was a curious element of old Hawaiian belief, but they did believe that demi-gods and supernatural beings had au-makuas, or ghost-gods, the spirits of their ancestors, to whom they prayed and offered sacrifice as if they were common people and needed ghost-gods to take care of them.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	curious	curious	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	element	element	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
8	Hawaiian	hawaiian	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	belief	belief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
11	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
12	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
13	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
14	believe	believe	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	parataxis	_	_
15	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
16	demi	demi	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	16	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	gods	god	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	nsubj	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
20	supernatural	supernatural	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	amod	_	_
21	beings	being	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	conj	_	_
22	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	ccomp	_	_
23	au	au	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	23	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	makuas	makua	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
27	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
28	ghost	ghost	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	28	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	gods	god	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	spirits	spirit	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	conj	_	_
34	of	of	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
35	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	36	nmod:poss	_	_
36	ancestors	ancestor	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	33	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	39	punct	_	_
38	to	to	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
39	whom	whom	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	22	conj	_	_
40	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	41	nsubj	_	_
41	prayed	pray	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	39	acl:relcl	_	_
42	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	43	cc	_	_
43	offered	offer	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	41	conj	_	_
44	sacrifice	sacrifice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	obj	_	_
45	as	as	ADP	IN	_	50	case	_	_
46	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	50	mark	_	_
47	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	50	nsubj	_	_
48	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	50	cop	_	_
49	common	common	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	50	amod	_	_
50	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	43	obl	_	_
51	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	52	cc	_	_
52	needed	need	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	41	conj	_	_
53	ghost	ghost	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	55	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
54	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	53	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
55	gods	god	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	52	obj	_	_
56	to	to	PART	TO	_	57	mark	_	_
57	take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	52	advcl	_	_
58	care	care	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	57	obj	_	_
59	of	of	ADP	IN	_	60	case	_	_
60	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	57	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
61	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | lightning | a curious element |  |  |  | of old Hawaiian belief | tree rules |
| 2 | **believe** | past · do-support | chiefs *= chief* |  |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 3 | **have** | past | demi gods and supernatural beings | au makuas or ghost gods and the spirits of gods's ancestors |  |  |  | whom *conj* | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent makua=Patient |
| 4 | **pray** | past | chiefs *= chief* |  |  |  |  |  | vn long-32.2 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Pivot |
| 5 | **offer** | past | chiefs *= chief* *not said here* | sacrifice |  |  |  |  | vn future\_having-13.3 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: agent=Agent sacrifice=Theme |
| 6 | **is** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | chiefs *= chief* |  |  |  |  | as common people | tree rules |
| 7 | **need** | past | chiefs *= chief* *not said here* | ghost gods |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot god=Theme |
| 8 | **take** | to-infinitive | chiefs *= chief* *not said here* | care |  |  |  | of gods *= god* | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP PP.initial\_location»: agent=Agent care=Theme of they=Initial\_Location |

<!-- .note -->
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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