---
title: The _Maeroero_ were the wild men of the woods, fierce hairy giants w… — Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury,… · tree and pragmatics
description: The _Maeroero_ were the wild men of the woods, fierce hairy giants who sometimes captured Maori women and carried them off to be their wives in the bush of the Port Hills. Who acts: fierce hairy giants. A sentence of «Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury, New Zealand» by James Cowan, The L
---

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# Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury, New Zealand, The Little People of the Mist., sentence 67

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The \_Maeroero\_ were the wild men of the woods, fierce hairy giants who sometimes captured Maori women and carried them off to be their wives in the bush of the Port Hills.

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**Who acts:** fierce hairy giants · **What happens:** be, capture, carry off · **To what, where:** wild men, Maori women, women, bush, wives, Maeroero

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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 (fierce hairy giants), 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:pg73766:14:67
# text = The _Maeroero_ were the wild men of the woods, fierce hairy giants who sometimes captured Maori women and carried them off to be their wives in the bush of the Port Hills.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	_	_	PUNCT	``	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	Maeroero	Maeroero	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	8	punct	_	_
5	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	wild	wild	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	appos	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	woods	wood	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
13	fierce	fierce	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
14	hairy	hairy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	giants	giant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	conj	_	_
16	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	18	nsubj	_	_
17	sometimes	sometimes	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	18	advmod	_	_
18	captured	capture	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	acl:relcl	_	_
19	Maori	Maori	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	20	compound	_	_
20	women	woman	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	obj	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
22	carried	carry	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	conj	_	_
23	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	obj	_	_
24	off	off	ADP	RP	_	22	compound:prt	_	_
25	to	to	PART	TO	_	28	mark	_	_
26	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	28	cop	_	_
27	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	28	nmod:poss	_	_
28	wives	wife	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	advcl	_	_
29	in	in	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	bush	bush	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	_
32	of	of	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
34	Port	Port	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	35	compound	_	_
35	Hills	Hill	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	31	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past |  | the wild men and fierce hairy giants |  |  |  | of the woods; fierce hairy giants *conj* | tree rules |
| 2 | **capture** | past | fierce hairy giants | Maori women |  |  |  | sometimes *property* | vn steal-10.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent woman=Theme |
| 3 | **carry off** | past | fierce hairy giants *not said here* | women *= woman* |  | the bush of the Port Hills |  |  | vn fit-54.3 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent they=Value in bush=Location |
| 4 | **is a** | to-infinitive | fierce hairy giants *not said here* | women's wives |  |  |  | women *= woman* *nmod:poss* | 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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