---
title: Nearer, in the middle of the picture, were the black volcanic cliffs… — Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury,… · tree and pragmatics
description: Nearer, in the middle of the picture, were the black volcanic cliffs, and the green slopes and pine-groves of the Lepers’ Isle, the island which the Maoris of old called Otamahua, mapped by the _pakeha_ as Quail Island; it was one tragic spot in the picture, a place of living death. Who acts: Cliff.
---

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# Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury, New Zealand, The Little People of the Mist., sentence 7

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Nearer, in the middle of the picture, were the black volcanic cliffs, and the green slopes and pine-groves of the Lepers’ Isle, the island which the Maoris of old called Otamahua, mapped by the \_pakeha\_ as Quail Island; it was one tragic spot in the picture, a place of living death.

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**Who acts:** Cliff · **What happens:** be, call, map · **To what, where:** Nearer black volcanic cliffs, Otamahua, one tragic spot, picture · **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 (Cliff), 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:pg73766:14:7
# text = Nearer, in the middle of the picture, were the black volcanic cliffs, and the green slopes and pine-groves of the Lepers’ Isle, the island which the Maoris of old called Otamahua, mapped by the _pakeha_ as Quail Island; it was one tragic spot in the picture, a place of living death.
1	Nearer	near	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	14	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
3	in	in	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	middle	middle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	picture	picture	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
10	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	cop	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
12	black	black	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
13	volcanic	volcanic	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	cliffs	cliff	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
18	green	green	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
19	slopes	slope	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	conj	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
21	pine	pine	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	21	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	groves	grove	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	conj	_	_
24	of	of	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	Lepers	Leper	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	28	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	’	's	PART	POS	_	26	case	_	_
28	Isle	Isle	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	23	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	island	island	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	appos	_	_
32	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	34	nsubj	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	Maoris	Maoris	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	31	nmod	_	_
35	of	of	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
36	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	34	amod	_	_
37	called	call	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	36	acl	_	_
38	Otamahua	Otamahua	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	37	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	40	punct	_	_
40	mapped	map	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	38	acl	_	_
41	by	by	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
42	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	44	det	_	_
43	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	44	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	pakeha	pakeha	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	40	punct	_	_
46	as	as	ADP	IN	_	48	case	_	_
47	Quail	Quail	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	48	compound	_	_
48	Island	Island	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	40	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	54	punct	_	_
50	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	54	nsubj	_	_
51	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	54	cop	_	_
52	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	54	nummod	_	_
53	tragic	tragic	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	54	amod	_	_
54	spot	spot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	obl	_	_
55	in	in	ADP	IN	_	57	case	_	_
56	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	57	det	_	_
57	picture	picture	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	54	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
58	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	60	punct	_	_
59	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	60	det	_	_
60	place	place	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	57	conj	_	_
61	of	of	ADP	IN	_	63	case	_	_
62	living	living	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	63	amod	_	_
63	death	death	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	60	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
64	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	14	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past |  | the Nearer black volcanic cliffs and the green slopes and pine groves of the Lepers's Isle |  |  |  | the green slopes and pine groves of the Lepers's Isle *conj* | tree rules |
| 2 | **call** | participle |  |  |  |  |  | Otamahua *xcomp* | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **map** | participle |  | Otamahua *not said here* |  |  |  | by the pakeha; as Quail Island | tree rules |
| 4 | **is a** | past | Cliff | one tragic spot |  | the picture and a place of living death |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .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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