---
title: (A seam of lignite is said to have been found burning in the localit… — Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury,… · tree and pragmatics
description: (A seam of lignite is said to have been found burning in the locality by the early settlers and explorers, and this the Maoris identified with the Hawaikian sorcerer’s magic blaze.) Who acts: Maoris, Hawaikian sorcerer. A sentence of «Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury, New Zealand» by J
---

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# Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury, New Zealand, How the Sacred Fire Came to Witch Hill., sentence 29

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(A seam of lignite is said to have been found burning in the locality by the early settlers and explorers, and this the Maoris identified with the Hawaikian sorcerer’s magic blaze.)

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**Who acts:** Maoris, Hawaikian sorcerer · **What happens:** say, find, burn, identify, blaze · **To what, where:** seam, locality · **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, How the Sacred Fire Came to Witch Hill.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Maoris, Hawaikian sorcerer), 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:pg73766:13:29
# text = (A seam of lignite is said to have been found burning in the locality by the early settlers and explorers, and this the Maoris identified with the Hawaikian sorcerer’s magic blaze.)
1	(	(	PUNCT	-LRB-	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	seam	seam	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj:pass	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	lignite	lignite	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
6	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux:pass	_	_
7	said	say	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
8	to	to	PART	TO	_	11	mark	_	_
9	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	aux	_	_
10	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	11	aux:pass	_	_
11	found	find	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	advcl	_	_
12	burning	burn	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	11	xcomp	_	_
13	in	in	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	locality	locality	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	_
16	by	by	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
18	early	early	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
19	settlers	settler	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	obl	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
21	explorers	explorer	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
24	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	25	nsubj	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	Maoris	Maoris	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	27	nsubj	_	_
27	identified	identify	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
28	with	with	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
30	Hawaikian	hawaikian	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	31	amod	_	_
31	sorcerer	sorcerer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	’s	's	PART	POS	_	31	case	_	_
33	magic	magic	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	compound	_	_
34	blaze	blaze	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	)	)	PUNCT	-RRB-	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present · passive |  | a seam of lignite |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: subject=Topic |
| 2 | **find** | to-infinitive · perfect · passive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: clause=Theme |
| 3 | **burn** | gerund |  |  |  | the locality |  | by the early settlers and explorers | vn light\_emission-43.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in locality=Location |
| 4 | **identify** | past | the Maoris |  |  |  |  | with the Hawaikian sorcerer's magic blaze | vn empathize-88.2 «NP V PP.stimulus»: agent=Experiencer with blaze=Stimulus |
| 5 | **blaze** |  | the Hawaikian sorcerer |  |  |  |  |  | nom blaze «process intransitive»: poss=agent |

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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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