---
title: Loftiest of all and nearest is that towering spear-head Te Poho-o-Ta… — Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury,… · tree and pragmatics
description: Loftiest of all and nearest is that towering spear-head Te Poho-o-Tamatea, a dark grey triangle of rhyolite, thrusting its naked apex into the warm sky a thousand feet and more above the groves and dwellings of Tikao’s people. A sentence of «Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury, New Zealan
---

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# Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury, New Zealand, Rapaki: a Village By the Sea., sentence 58

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Loftiest of all and nearest is that towering spear-head Te Poho-o-Tamatea, a dark grey triangle of rhyolite, thrusting its naked apex into the warm sky a thousand feet and more above the groves and dwellings of Tikao’s people.

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**What happens:** tower, thrust · **To what, where:** spear head, naked apex, warm sky

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This is a sentence of «Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury, New Zealand» by James Cowan, Rapaki: a Village By the Sea.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: 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:pg73766:12:58
# text = Loftiest of all and nearest is that towering spear-head Te Poho-o-Tamatea, a dark grey triangle of rhyolite, thrusting its naked apex into the warm sky a thousand feet and more above the groves and dwellings of Tikao’s people.
1	Loftiest	lofty	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	0	root	_	_
2	of	of	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
3	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	1	nmod	_	_
4	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
5	nearest	near	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	1	conj	_	_
6	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
7	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
8	towering	tower	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	1	advcl	_	_
9	spear	spear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
12	Te	Te	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
13	Poho	Poho	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	12	flat	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	17	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	o	of	ADP	IN	Abbr=Yes	17	case	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	15	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	Tamatea	Tamatea	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	12	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
19	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
20	dark	dark	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	amod	_	_
21	grey	grey	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	amod	_	_
22	triangle	triangle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	appos	_	_
23	of	of	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	rhyolite	rhyolite	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
26	thrusting	thrust	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	8	conj	_	_
27	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	29	nmod:poss	_	_
28	naked	naked	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
29	apex	apex	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obj	_	_
30	into	into	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
32	warm	warm	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	33	amod	_	_
33	sky	sky	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	_
34	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	thousand	thousand	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	36	nummod	_	_
36	feet	foot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	26	obl	_	_
37	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	38	cc	_	_
38	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	36	conj	_	_
39	above	above	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
40	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
41	groves	grove	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	38	obl	_	_
42	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	43	cc	_	_
43	dwellings	dwelling	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	41	conj	_	_
44	of	of	ADP	IN	_	47	case	_	_
45	Tikao	Tikao	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	47	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	’s	's	PART	POS	_	45	case	_	_
47	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	43	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tower** | present · progressive |  | spear head |  |  |  | Te and Tamatea *obj* | tree rules |
| 2 | **thrust** | gerund |  | rhyolite's naked apex |  | the warm sky |  | thousand feet *obl* | vn carry-11.4-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent apex=Theme |

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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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