---
title: Of the lava dykes Professor R. Speight writes in his account of the… — Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury,… · tree and pragmatics
description: Of the lava dykes Professor R. Speight writes in his account of the geology of the Port Hills that they radiate from the harbour as a centre and form, as it were, the ribs of the mountain, holding it firmly together and helping it to resist the enormous strains to which it was exposed before and dur
---

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# Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury, New Zealand, How the Sacred Fire Came to Witch Hill., sentence 46

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Of the lava dykes Professor R. Speight writes in his account of the geology of the Port Hills that they radiate from the harbour as a centre and form, as it were, the ribs of the mountain, holding it firmly together and helping it to resist the enormous strains to which it was exposed before and during eruptions.

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**Who acts:** R., mataa, form · **What happens:** dyke, write, radiate, be, hold, help · **To what, where:** account, harbour, form, enormous strains, geology

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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 (R., mataa, form), 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:pg73766:13:46
# text = Of the lava dykes Professor R. Speight writes in his account of the geology of the Port Hills that they radiate from the harbour as a centre and form, as it were, the ribs of the mountain, holding it firmly together and helping it to resist the enormous strains to which it was exposed before and during eruptions.
1	Of	of	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	lava	lava	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
4	dykes	dyke	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	Professor	Professor	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	nmod:desc	_	_
6	R.	R.	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
7	Speight	Speight	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	flat	_	_
8	writes	write	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	ccomp	_	_
9	in	in	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	account	account	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
12	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	geology	geology	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nmod	_	_
15	of	of	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
17	Port	Port	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	18	compound	_	_
18	Hills	hill	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	nmod	_	_
19	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	21	mark	_	_
20	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
21	radiate	radiate	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	18	advcl	_	_
22	from	from	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	harbour	harbour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	_
25	as	as	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	centre	centre	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	nmod	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
29	form	form	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
31	as	as	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
32	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	36	nsubj	_	_
33	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	36	cop	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	ribs	rib	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	_
37	of	of	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
38	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
39	mountain	mountain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	41	punct	_	_
41	holding	hold	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	4	advcl	_	_
42	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	41	obj	_	_
43	firmly	firmly	ADV	RB	_	44	advmod	_	_
44	together	together	ADV	RB	_	41	advmod	_	_
45	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	46	cc	_	_
46	helping	help	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	41	conj	_	_
47	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	46	obj	_	_
48	to	to	PART	TO	_	49	mark	_	_
49	resist	resist	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	46	xcomp	_	_
50	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	52	det	_	_
51	enormous	enormous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	52	amod	_	_
52	strains	strain	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	49	obj	_	_
53	to	to	ADP	IN	_	54	case	_	_
54	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	57	obl	_	_
55	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	57	nsubj:pass	_	_
56	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	57	aux:pass	_	_
57	exposed	expose	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	52	acl:relcl	_	_
58	before	before	ADV	RB	_	57	advmod	_	_
59	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	61	cc	_	_
60	during	during	ADP	IN	_	61	case	_	_
61	eruptions	eruption	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	58	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
62	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **dyke** | present |  |  |  |  |  | of the lava | tree rules |
| 2 | **write** | present | R.  Professor |  |  | R.'s account of the geology of the Port Hills |  |  | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent in account=Destination |
| 3 | **radiate** | present | mataa |  |  | the harbour as a centre and form |  |  | vn substance\_emission-43.4-1 «NP.theme V PP.source»: agent=Theme from harbour=Source |
| 4 | **is** | past | form |  |  |  |  | as the ribs; of the mountain | tree rules |
| 5 | **hold** | gerund |  | form |  |  |  | together *property* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme |
| 6 | **help** | gerund |  | form |  |  |  |  | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent it=Beneficiary clause=Theme |
| 7 | **resist** | to-infinitive | form *not said here* | the enormous strains |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 8 | **expose** | past · passive |  | form | the enormous strains |  |  | before *property* | vn reflexive\_appearance-48.1.2 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: subject=Theme to which=Recipient |
| 9 | **account** |  | R. | the geology of the Port Hills |  |  |  |  | nom account «communication transitive»: poss=agent 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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