---
title: He pointed to the reedy lagoons and streams that silvered the flax a… — Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury,… · tree and pragmatics
description: He pointed to the reedy lagoons and streams that silvered the flax and tussock desert, where Christchurch City and its suburbs now spread out leisurely and shade off into the rural lands, and said: “Yonder the waters are thick with eels and lampreys, and their margins with ducks and other birds; in 
---

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# Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury, New Zealand, “the Crest of the Rainbow.”, sentence 24

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He pointed to the reedy lagoons and streams that silvered the flax and tussock desert, where Christchurch City and its suburbs now spread out leisurely and shade off into the rural lands, and said: “Yonder the waters are thick with eels and lampreys, and their margins with ducks and other birds; in the plains beyond there are wekas for the catching.”

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**Who acts:** Waitai, reedy lagoons, waters · **What happens:** point, silver, spread out, shade off, say, be · **To what, where:** flax, rural lands, wekas, plains · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury, New Zealand» by James Cowan, “the Crest of the Rainbow.”. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Waitai, reedy lagoons, waters), 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:pg73766:11:24
# text = He pointed to the reedy lagoons and streams that silvered the flax and tussock desert, where Christchurch City and its suburbs now spread out leisurely and shade off into the rural lands, and said: “Yonder the waters are thick with eels and lampreys, and their margins with ducks and other birds; in the plains beyond there are wekas for the catching.”
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	pointed	point	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	to	to	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	reedy	reedy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	lagoons	lagoon	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	streams	stream	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	conj	_	_
9	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	10	nsubj	_	_
10	silvered	silver	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	acl:relcl	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	flax	flax	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
14	tussock	tussock	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	compound	_	_
15	desert	desert	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
17	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	19	advmod	_	_
18	Christchurch	Christchurch	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	19	compound	_	_
19	City	City	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	15	appos	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
21	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	22	nmod:poss	_	_
22	suburbs	suburb	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	conj	_	_
23	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	24	advmod	_	_
24	spread	spread	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	advcl	_	_
25	out	out	ADP	RP	_	24	compound:prt	_	_
26	leisurely	leisurely	ADV	RB	_	24	advmod	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
28	shade	shade	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	24	conj	_	_
29	off	off	ADP	RP	_	28	compound:prt	_	_
30	into	into	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
32	rural	rural	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	33	amod	_	_
33	lands	land	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	28	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
35	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
36	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	advcl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	43	punct	_	_
38	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	43	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	Yonder	yonder	ADV	RB	_	43	advmod	_	_
40	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
41	waters	water	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	43	nsubj	_	_
42	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	43	cop	_	_
43	thick	thick	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	36	ccomp	_	_
44	with	with	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
45	eels	eel	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	43	obl	_	_
46	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	47	cc	_	_
47	lampreys	lamprey	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	45	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	51	punct	_	_
49	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	51	cc	_	_
50	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	51	nmod:poss	_	_
51	margins	margin	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	36	parataxis	_	_
52	with	with	ADP	IN	_	53	case	_	_
53	ducks	duck	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	51	nmod	_	_
54	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	56	cc	_	_
55	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	56	amod	_	_
56	birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	53	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
57	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	64	punct	_	_
58	in	in	ADP	IN	_	60	case	_	_
59	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	60	det	_	_
60	plains	plain	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	64	obl	_	_
61	beyond	beyond	ADP	IN	_	63	mark	_	_
62	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	63	expl	_	_
63	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	64	cop	_	_
64	wekas	weka	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	parataxis	_	_
65	for	for	ADP	IN	_	67	case	_	_
66	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	67	det	_	_
67	catching	catching	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	64	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
68	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	64	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
69	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **point** | past | Waitai |  |  |  |  | to the reedy lagoons and streams | tree rules |
| 2 | **silver** | past | the reedy lagoons and streams | the flax and tussock desert |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent flax=Patient |
| 3 | **spread out** | present | the reedy lagoons and streams *not said here* |  |  |  | now | leisurely *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **shade off** | present | the reedy lagoons and streams *not said here* |  |  | the rural lands |  |  | vn defend-72.3 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Waitai *not said here* |  |  |  |  | waters's margins with ducks and other birds *parataxis* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 6 | **is** *in a quote* | present | the waters |  |  |  |  | with eels and lampreys; thick, yonder *property* | tree rules |
| 7 | **is a** *in a quote* | present |  | wekas |  | the plains |  | for the catching | tree rules |

<!-- .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:** «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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