---
title: There were big trees--_totara_, _rimu_, _kahikatea_ and _mataii_--bu… — Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury,… · tree and pragmatics
description: There were big trees--_totara_, _rimu_, _kahikatea_ and _mataii_--but all have gone long ago. Who acts: big trees, all. A sentence of «Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury, New Zealand» by James Cowan, Rapaki: a Village By the Sea., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clau
---

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# Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury, New Zealand, Rapaki: a Village By the Sea., sentence 64

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There were big trees--\_totara\_, \_rimu\_, \_kahikatea\_ and \_mataii\_--but all have gone long ago.

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**Who acts:** big trees, all · **What happens:** be, go

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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: who acts (big trees, all), 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:pg73766:12:64
# text = There were big trees--_totara_, _rimu_, _kahikatea_ and _mataii_--but all have gone long ago.
1	There	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	2	expl	_	_
2	were	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	trees	tree	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	totara	totara	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
10	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	rimu	rimu	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
14	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	15	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	kahikatea	kahikatea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	15	punct	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
18	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	19	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	mataii	mataii	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	19	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
23	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	25	nsubj	_	_
24	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	25	aux	_	_
25	gone	go	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	2	conj	_	_
26	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	27	advmod	_	_
27	ago	ago	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be** | past | big trees and rimu |  |  | there |  | kahikatea and mataii *parataxis* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **go** | present · perfect | all |  |  |  |  | ago *property* | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=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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