---
title: The higher the little valleys, too, the more bush there is; the gull… — Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury,… · tree and pragmatics
description: The higher the little valleys, too, the more bush there is; the gully bottoms are hidden everywhere with many tinted foliage, a taller tree here and there protruding its head above its fellows, and these remnants of the ancient forest climb to the very parapets of dark and grey rock that seem to for
---

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# Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury, New Zealand, “the Crest of the Rainbow.”, sentence 56

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The higher the little valleys, too, the more bush there is; the gully bottoms are hidden everywhere with many tinted foliage, a taller tree here and there protruding its head above its fellows, and these remnants of the ancient forest climb to the very parapets of dark and grey rock that seem to form the main defences of Kahukura’s citadel.

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**Who acts:** more bush, dark rock · **What happens:** be, hide, tint, protrude, seem, form · **To what, where:** gully bottoms, head, main defences, citadel

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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 (more bush, dark rock), 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:pg73766:11:56
# text = The higher the little valleys, too, the more bush there is; the gully bottoms are hidden everywhere with many tinted foliage, a taller tree here and there protruding its head above its fellows, and these remnants of the ancient forest climb to the very parapets of dark and grey rock that seem to form the main defences of Kahukura’s citadel.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	higher	high	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	13	advmod	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	valleys	valley	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
7	too	too	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	11	amod	_	_
11	bush	bush	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	_
12	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	13	expl	_	_
13	is	be	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	19	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	13	punct	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
16	gully	gully	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	compound	_	_
17	bottoms	bottom	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	nsubj:pass	_	_
18	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	19	aux:pass	_	_
19	hidden	hide	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
20	everywhere	everywhere	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	19	advmod	_	_
21	with	with	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
22	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	amod	_	_
23	tinted	tint	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	24	amod	_	_
24	foliage	foliage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
26	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
27	taller	tall	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	28	amod	_	_
28	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	appos	_	_
29	here	here	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	28	advmod	_	_
30	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
31	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	32	advmod	_	_
32	protruding	protrude	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	19	conj	_	_
33	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	34	nmod:poss	_	_
34	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obj	_	_
35	above	above	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
36	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	37	nmod:poss	_	_
37	fellows	fellow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	32	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	41	punct	_	_
39	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	41	cc	_	_
40	these	this	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	41	det	_	_
41	remnants	remnant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	conj	_	_
42	of	of	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
43	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	46	det	_	_
44	ancient	ancient	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	46	amod	_	_
45	forest	forest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	46	compound	_	_
46	climb	climb	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	nmod	_	_
47	to	to	ADP	IN	_	50	case	_	_
48	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	50	det	_	_
49	very	very	ADV	RB	_	50	advmod	_	_
50	parapets	parapet	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	46	nmod	_	_
51	of	of	ADP	IN	_	55	case	_	_
52	dark	dark	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	55	amod	_	_
53	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	54	cc	_	_
54	grey	grey	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	52	conj	_	_
55	rock	rock	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	50	nmod	_	_
56	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	57	nsubj	_	_
57	seem	seem	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	55	acl:relcl	_	_
58	to	to	PART	TO	_	59	mark	_	_
59	form	form	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	57	xcomp	_	_
60	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	62	det	_	_
61	main	main	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	62	amod	_	_
62	defences	defence	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	59	obj	_	_
63	of	of	ADP	IN	_	66	case	_	_
64	Kahukura	Kahukura	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	66	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
65	’s	's	PART	POS	_	64	case	_	_
66	citadel	citadel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	62	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
67	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	19	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be** | present | the more bush |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **hide** | present · passive |  | the gully bottoms |  |  |  | with many tinted foliage; this remnants of the ancient forest climb to the parapets of dark rock *conj*; everywhere *property* | vn concealment-16-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 3 | **tint** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn coloring-24 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **protrude** | gerund |  | valley's head |  | there |  | above valley's fellows | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location head=Theme |
| 5 | **seem** | present | dark rock |  |  |  |  |  | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme clause=Attribute |
| 6 | **form** | to-infinitive | dark rock *not said here* | the main defences of Kahukura's citadel |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location defence=Theme |
| 7 | **defend** |  |  | Kahukura's citadel |  |  |  |  | nom defence «process transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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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