---
title: The soft and plaintive flute song of the fair-skinned folk who lived… — Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury,… · tree and pragmatics
description: The soft and plaintive flute song of the fair-skinned folk who lived on these misty mountains seems to have appealed to the Native heart, for it is described as sweeter by far than the _whakatangitangi_, the “making sound upon sound,” of the ordinary Maori flute-players. Who acts: skinned folk, soft
---

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# Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury, New Zealand, The Little People of the Mist., sentence 60

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The soft and plaintive flute song of the fair-skinned folk who lived on these misty mountains seems to have appealed to the Native heart, for it is described as sweeter by far than the \_whakatangitangi\_, the “making sound upon sound,” of the ordinary Maori flute-players.

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**Who acts:** skinned folk, soft flute song · **What happens:** live, seem, appeal, describe, make, sing · **To what, where:** misty mountains, mountain

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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 (skinned folk, soft flute song), 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:pg73766:14:60
# text = The soft and plaintive flute song of the fair-skinned folk who lived on these misty mountains seems to have appealed to the Native heart, for it is described as sweeter by far than the _whakatangitangi_, the “making sound upon sound,” of the ordinary Maori flute-players.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
2	soft	soft	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
3	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
4	plaintive	plaintive	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	conj	_	_
5	flute	flute	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	song	song	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nsubj	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
9	fair	fair	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	skinned	skinned	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	folk	folk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
13	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	14	nsubj	_	_
14	lived	live	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	acl:relcl	_	_
15	on	on	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
16	these	this	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	18	det	_	_
17	misty	misty	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	mountains	mountain	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	obl	_	_
19	seems	seem	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
20	to	to	PART	TO	_	22	mark	_	_
21	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	aux	_	_
22	appealed	appeal	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	19	xcomp	_	_
23	to	to	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
25	Native	native	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	amod	_	_
26	heart	heart	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
28	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	31	mark	_	_
29	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj:pass	_	_
30	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	31	aux:pass	_	_
31	described	describe	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	22	parataxis	_	_
32	as	as	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
33	sweeter	sweet	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	31	obl	_	_
34	by	by	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
35	far	far	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	31	obl	_	_
36	than	than	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
37	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
38	_	_	PUNCT	``	_	39	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	whakatangitangi	whakatangitangi	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	35	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	45	punct	_	_
42	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	45	det	_	_
43	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	44	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	making	make	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	45	amod	_	_
45	sound	sound	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	parataxis	_	_
46	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	47	case	_	_
47	sound	sound	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	19	punct	_	_
50	of	of	ADP	IN	_	56	case	_	_
51	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	56	det	_	_
52	ordinary	ordinary	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	56	amod	_	_
53	Maori	maori	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	56	amod	_	_
54	flute	flute	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	56	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
55	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	54	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
56	players	player	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
57	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	19	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **live** | past | the skinned folk |  |  | this misty mountains |  |  | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on mountain=Location |
| 2 | **seem** | present | the soft flute song of the skinned folk |  |  |  |  | of the ordinary Maori flute players; the making sound upon sound *parataxis* | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme clause=Attribute |
| 3 | **appeal** | to-infinitive · perfect | the soft flute song of the skinned folk *not said here* |  |  |  |  | to the Native heart | vn appeal-31.4-2 «NP V PP.experiencer»: agent=Stimulus to heart=Experiencer |
| 4 | **describe** | present · passive |  | mountain |  |  |  | as sweeter | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: subject=Theme as sweet=Attribute |
| 5 | **make** *in a quote* | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset |
| 6 | **sing** |  | the skinned folk |  |  |  |  |  | nom song «communication intransitive»: of=agent |

<!-- .note -->
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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