---
title: It was probably either a _tuahu_ or a burying-place; the _tuahu_ was… — Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury,… · tree and pragmatics
description: It was probably either a _tuahu_ or a burying-place; the _tuahu_ was the spot where the tribal gods, or, rather, their symbols in wood and stone, were kept, and where the wise men, the _tohungas_, resorted for incantation and occult ceremonies and the black art of the _makutu_, by which enemies migh
---

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# Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury, New Zealand, Mount Pleasant and Its “tapu.”, sentence 14

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It was probably either a \_tuahu\_ or a burying-place; the \_tuahu\_ was the spot where the tribal gods, or, rather, their symbols in wood and stone, were kept, and where the wise men, the \_tohungas\_, resorted for incantation and occult ceremonies and the black art of the \_makutu\_, by which enemies might be slain though they were at a great distance, by thought transmission and the malignant projection of the will.

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**Who acts:** belief, wise men, enemies · **What happens:** be, keep, resort, slay · **To what, where:** burying place, spot, tribal gods, enemies

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This is a sentence of «Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury, New Zealand» by James Cowan, Mount Pleasant and Its “tapu.”. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (belief, wise men, enemies), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg73766:15:14
# text = It was probably either a _tuahu_ or a burying-place; the _tuahu_ was the spot where the tribal gods, or, rather, their symbols in wood and stone, were kept, and where the wise men, the _tohungas_, resorted for incantation and occult ceremonies and the black art of the _makutu_, by which enemies might be slain though they were at a great distance, by thought transmission and the malignant projection of the will.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	cop	_	_
3	probably	probably	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
4	either	either	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc:preconj	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	tuahu	tuahu	X	FW	Foreign=Yes	13	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	13	punct	_	_
9	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
11	burying	burying	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	place	place	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	17	punct	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
16	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	17	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	tuahu	tuahu	X	FW	Foreign=Yes	13	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	21	punct	_	_
19	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	cop	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	spot	spot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	appos	_	_
22	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	39	advmod	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
24	tribal	tribal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	amod	_	_
25	gods	god	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	39	nsubj:pass	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
27	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
29	rather	rather	ADV	RB	_	32	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
31	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	32	nmod:poss	_	_
32	symbols	symbol	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	appos	_	_
33	in	in	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
34	wood	wood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	nmod	_	_
35	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
36	stone	stone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
38	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	39	aux:pass	_	_
39	kept	keep	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	21	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	52	punct	_	_
41	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	52	cc	_	_
42	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	52	advmod	_	_
43	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	45	det	_	_
44	wise	wise	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	45	amod	_	_
45	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	52	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	49	punct	_	_
47	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	49	det	_	_
48	_	_	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	49	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	tohungas	tohunga	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	45	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	49	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	52	punct	_	_
52	resorted	resort	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	39	conj	_	_
53	for	for	ADP	IN	_	54	case	_	_
54	incantation	incantation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	52	obl	_	_
55	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	57	cc	_	_
56	occult	occult	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	57	compound	_	_
57	ceremonies	ceremony	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	54	conj	_	_
58	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	61	cc	_	_
59	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	61	det	_	_
60	black	black	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	61	amod	_	_
61	art	art	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	54	conj	_	_
62	of	of	ADP	IN	_	65	case	_	_
63	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	65	det	_	_
64	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	65	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
65	makutu	makutu	X	FW	Foreign=Yes	61	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
66	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	52	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
67	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	73	punct	_	_
68	by	by	ADP	IN	_	69	case	_	_
69	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	73	obl	_	_
70	enemies	enemy	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	73	nsubj:pass	_	_
71	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	73	aux	_	_
72	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	73	aux:pass	_	_
73	slain	slay	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	52	conj	_	_
74	though	though	SCONJ	IN	_	80	mark	_	_
75	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	80	nsubj	_	_
76	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	80	cop	_	_
77	at	at	ADP	IN	_	80	case	_	_
78	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	80	det	_	_
79	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	80	amod	_	_
80	distance	distance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	73	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
81	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	84	punct	_	_
82	by	by	ADP	IN	_	84	case	_	_
83	thought	thought	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	84	compound	_	_
84	transmission	transmission	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	80	conj	_	_
85	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	88	cc	_	_
86	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	88	det	_	_
87	malignant	malignant	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	88	amod	_	_
88	projection	projection	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	80	conj	_	_
89	of	of	ADP	IN	_	91	case	_	_
90	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	91	det	_	_
91	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	88	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
92	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	13	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | belief | a burying place |  |  |  | probably *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **is a** | past |  | the spot |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **keep** | past · passive |  | the tribal gods |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 4 | **resort** | participle | the wise men |  |  |  |  | for incantation and occult ceremonies and the black art of the makutu | vn convert-26.6.2 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Patient |
| 5 | **slay** | might · passive |  | enemies |  |  |  | which *obl* | vn murder-42.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 6 | **is** | past | enemies *= enemy* |  |  |  |  | at a great distance and thought transmission and the malignant projection; thought transmission *conj*; the malignant projection *conj* | 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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