---
title: Sometimes on dark nights the Maori villagers would see the light of… — Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury,… · tree and pragmatics
description: Sometimes on dark nights the Maori villagers would see the light of torches moving about in bays across Lyttelton Harbour, then the Bay of Raupo, where they knew there was no settlement of their tribe, and they would say to each other, “See! Who acts: Maori villagers, torches, Bay, settlement. A sen
---

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# Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury, New Zealand, The Little People of the Mist., sentence 65

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Sometimes on dark nights the Maori villagers would see the light of torches moving about in bays across Lyttelton Harbour, then the Bay of Raupo, where they knew there was no settlement of their tribe, and they would say to each other, “See!

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**Who acts:** Maori villagers, torches, Bay, settlement, villagers · **What happens:** see, move, know, be, say, light · **To what, where:** light, Lyttelton Harbour, each, torches · **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, 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 (Maori villagers, torches, Bay, settlement), 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:pg73766:14:65
# text = Sometimes on dark nights the Maori villagers would see the light of torches moving about in bays across Lyttelton Harbour, then the Bay of Raupo, where they knew there was no settlement of their tribe, and they would say to each other, “See!
1	Sometimes	sometimes	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	9	advmod	_	_
2	on	on	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	dark	dark	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	nights	night	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obl	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	Maori	Maori	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	villagers	villager	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nsubj	_	_
8	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
9	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	light	light	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
12	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	torches	torch	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	nmod	_	_
14	moving	move	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	13	acl	_	_
15	about	about	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	in	in	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	bays	bay	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	obl	_	_
18	across	across	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	Lyttelton	Lyttelton	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	20	compound	_	_
20	Harbour	Harbour	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
22	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	30	advmod	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	Bay	Bay	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	30	nsubj	_	_
25	of	of	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
26	Raupo	Raupo	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	24	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
28	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	30	advmod	_	_
29	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
30	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	advcl	_	_
31	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	32	expl	_	_
32	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	30	ccomp	_	_
33	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	34	det	_	_
34	settlement	settlement	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	nsubj	_	_
35	of	of	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
36	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	37	nmod:poss	_	_
37	tribe	tribe	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	42	punct	_	_
39	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	42	cc	_	_
40	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	42	nsubj	_	_
41	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	42	aux	_	_
42	say	say	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	parataxis	_	_
43	to	to	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
44	each	each	DET	DT	ExtPos=PRON|PronType=Rcp	42	obl	_	_
45	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	44	fixed	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	48	punct	_	_
47	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	48	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	See	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	42	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **see** | would | the Maori villagers | the light of torches |  |  | night | sometimes *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer light=Stimulus |
| 2 | **move** | gerund | torches *not said here* |  |  | Lyttelton Harbour |  | about bays | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V PP.trajectory»: agent=Theme about bay=Trajectory |
| 3 | **know** | past | the Bay of Raupo |  |  |  | then | villagers *= villager* *nsubj* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 4 | **be** | past | no settlement of villagers's tribe |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **say** *speech: express* | would | villagers *= villager* |  | each |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to each=Recipient |
| 6 | **see** *in a quote* | infinitive | villagers *= villager* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 7 | **light** |  |  | torches |  |  |  |  | nom light «phenomenon transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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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