---
title: It is a barbed-wire fence, perhaps, to the average _pakeha_, yet abb… — Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury,… · tree and pragmatics
description: It is a barbed-wire fence, perhaps, to the average _pakeha_, yet abbreviated it is not inappropriate as a Plains homestead name. Who acts: tribe. A sentence of «Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury, New Zealand» by James Cowan, The Port Hills and Their Names., with its dependency tree and 
---

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# Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury, New Zealand, The Port Hills and Their Names., sentence 92

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It is a barbed-wire fence, perhaps, to the average \_pakeha\_, yet abbreviated it is not inappropriate as a Plains homestead name.

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**Who acts:** tribe · **What happens:** be, abbreviate, not be · **To what, where:** barbed wire fence

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This is a sentence of «Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury, New Zealand» by James Cowan, The Port Hills and Their Names.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (tribe), 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:pg73766:10:92
# text = It is a barbed-wire fence, perhaps, to the average _pakeha_, yet abbreviated it is not inappropriate as a Plains homestead name.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
4	barbed	barbed	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	wire	wire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	fence	fence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
9	perhaps	perhaps	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
11	to	to	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	average	average	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	parataxis	_	_
14	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	15	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	pakeha	pakeha	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
18	yet	yet	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
19	abbreviated	abbreviate	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	23	amod	_	_
20	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
21	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	23	cop	_	_
22	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	23	advmod	_	_
23	inappropriate	inappropriate	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	conj	_	_
24	as	as	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
25	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
26	Plains	Plain	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	28	compound	_	_
27	homestead	homestead	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	compound	_	_
28	name	name	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | tribe | a barbed wire fence |  |  |  | the average and pakeha *parataxis*; perhaps *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **abbreviate** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 3 | **not** **is** | present | tribe |  |  |  |  | as a Plains homestead name; inappropriate *property* | tree rules |

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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:** «Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury, New Zealand» by James Cowan, Project Gutenberg book 73766 (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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