---
title: The offspring of such unions were always known by their extremely fa… — Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury,… · tree and pragmatics
description: The offspring of such unions were always known by their extremely fair skins, unnaturally pale, and their light flaxen hair; they were _korako_ or albinos. Who acts: fair skins, light, skins. A sentence of «Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury, New Zealand» by James Cowan, The Little Peopl
---

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# Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury, New Zealand, The Little People of the Mist., sentence 63

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The offspring of such unions were always known by their extremely fair skins, unnaturally pale, and their light flaxen hair; they were \_korako\_ or albinos.

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**Who acts:** fair skins, light, skins · **What happens:** know, hair, be, light · **To what, where:** offspring, korako

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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 (fair skins, light, skins), 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:pg73766:14:63
# text = The offspring of such unions were always known by their extremely fair skins, unnaturally pale, and their light flaxen hair; they were _korako_ or albinos.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	offspring	offspring	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	such	such	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	unions	union	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nmod	_	_
6	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux:pass	_	_
7	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	8	advmod	_	_
8	known	know	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
9	by	by	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
10	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	13	nmod:poss	_	_
11	extremely	extremely	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
12	fair	fair	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	skins	skin	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
15	unnaturally	unnaturally	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
16	pale	pale	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
19	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	20	nmod:poss	_	_
20	light	light	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nsubj	_	_
21	flaxen	flaxen	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	amod	_	_
22	hair	hair	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	27	punct	_	_
24	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
25	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	cop	_	_
26	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	27	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	korako	korako	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	27	punct	_	_
29	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
30	albinos	albino	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	27	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **know** | past · passive | unions's fair skins and flaxen hair | the offspring of such unions |  |  |  | always *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer subject=Stimulus |
| 2 | **hair** |  | skins's light |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **is a** | past | skins *= skin* | korako or albinos |  |  |  | albinos *conj* | tree rules |
| 4 | **light** |  | skins *= skin* |  |  |  |  |  | nom light «phenomenon transitive»: 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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