---
title: This was a sign to the weather-wise that a nor’-wester was blowing o… — Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury,… · tree and pragmatics
description: This was a sign to the weather-wise that a nor’-wester was blowing on the Canterbury Plains--a _tohu_, or token, that was seldom astray. Who acts: This, ’ wester, that. A sentence of «Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury, New Zealand» by James Cowan, The Little People of the Mist., with it
---

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# Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury, New Zealand, The Little People of the Mist., sentence 40

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This was a sign to the weather-wise that a nor’-wester was blowing on the Canterbury Plains--a \_tohu\_, or token, that was seldom astray.

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**Who acts:** This, ’ wester, that · **What happens:** be, blow · **To what, where:** sign, Canterbury Plains

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This is a sentence of «Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury, New Zealand» by James Cowan, The Little People of the Mist.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (This, ’ wester, that), 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:pg73766:14:40
# text = This was a sign to the weather-wise that a nor’-wester was blowing on the Canterbury Plains--a _tohu_, or token, that was seldom astray.
1	This	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	4	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	sign	sign	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
7	weather	weather	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	wise	wise	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	acl:relcl	_	_
10	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
12	nor	nor	CCONJ	CC	Polarity=Neg	13	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	’	'	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	wester	wester	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nsubj	_	_
16	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
17	blowing	blow	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	9	advcl	_	_
18	on	on	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
20	Canterbury	Canterbury	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	21	compound	_	_
21	Plains	Plain	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
24	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	25	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	tohu	tohu	X	FW	Foreign=Yes	4	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	25	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
28	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
29	token	token	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
31	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	34	nsubj	_	_
32	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	34	cop	_	_
33	seldom	seldom	ADV	RB	_	34	advmod	_	_
34	astray	astray	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | This | a sign |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **blow** | past · progressive | a ’ wester |  |  | the Canterbury Plains |  |  | vn split-23.2 «NP V apart»: agent=Patient |
| 3 | **is** | past | that |  |  |  |  | astray, seldom *property* | tree rules |

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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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