---
title: Here in the shadowy depths there is some bird life; the trill of the… — Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury,… · tree and pragmatics
description: Here in the shadowy depths there is some bird life; the trill of the _riroriro_, the little grey warbler, is almost constant, and an occasional fantail flits about us; but the thrush is more numerous than any native bird. Who acts: trill, thrush. A sentence of «Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Ca
---

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# Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury, New Zealand, “the Crest of the Rainbow.”, sentence 59

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Here in the shadowy depths there is some bird life; the trill of the \_riroriro\_, the little grey warbler, is almost constant, and an occasional fantail flits about us; but the thrush is more numerous than any native bird.

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**Who acts:** trill, thrush · **What happens:** be, trill · **To what, where:** riroriro

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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 (trill, thrush), 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:pg73766:11:59
# text = Here in the shadowy depths there is some bird life; the trill of the _riroriro_, the little grey warbler, is almost constant, and an occasional fantail flits about us; but the thrush is more numerous than any native bird.
1	Here	here	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	7	advmod	_	_
2	in	in	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	shadowy	shadowy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	depths	depth	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	obl	_	_
6	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	7	expl	_	_
7	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	27	cop	_	_
8	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	10	det	_	_
9	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	compound	_	_
10	life	life	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	13	punct	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	trill	trill	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	nsubj	_	_
14	of	of	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
16	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	17	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	riroriro	riroriro	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	17	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
21	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
22	grey	grey	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
23	warbler	warbler	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
25	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	27	cop	_	_
26	almost	almost	ADV	RB	_	27	advmod	_	_
27	constant	constant	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
29	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	33	cc	_	_
30	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
31	occasional	occasional	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	33	amod	_	_
32	fantail	fantail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	compound	_	_
33	flits	flit	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	27	conj	_	_
34	about	about	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
35	us	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	33	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	42	punct	_	_
37	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	42	cc	_	_
38	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
39	thrush	thrush	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	nsubj	_	_
40	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	42	cop	_	_
41	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	42	advmod	_	_
42	numerous	numerous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	conj	_	_
43	than	than	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
44	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	46	det	_	_
45	native	native	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	46	amod	_	_
46	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	27	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | the trill of the riroriro and the little grey warbler |  |  |  |  | a occasional fantail flits about us *conj*; almost, constant *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **is** | present | the thrush |  |  |  |  | than any native bird; numerous *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **trill** |  |  | the riroriro and the little grey warbler |  |  |  |  | nom trill «communication transitive»: of=patient |

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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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