---
title: There is hardly a more interesting specimen of vulcanism in New Zeal… — Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury,… · tree and pragmatics
description: There is hardly a more interesting specimen of vulcanism in New Zealand, for example, than the strange wall of grey-white lava rock which Europeans call the Giant’s Causeway and the Maoris “The Fire of Tamatea,” which protrudes from the hilltop just above Rapaki, and which may be seen again on the f
---

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# Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury, New Zealand, The Story of the Rocks., sentence 11

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There is hardly a more interesting specimen of vulcanism in New Zealand, for example, than the strange wall of grey-white lava rock which Europeans call the Giant’s Causeway and the Maoris “The Fire of Tamatea,” which protrudes from the hilltop just above Rapaki, and which may be seen again on the far side of the harbour, a volcanic dyke that the ancient people--with surely some perception of geological truth--connected in their legends with the internal fires of the North Island.

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**Who acts:** interesting specimen, Europeans, strange wall · **What happens:** be, call, protrude, see, connect, perceive · **To what, where:** grey white lava rock, hilltop, far side, ancient people, legends, geological truth · **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 Story of the Rocks.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (interesting specimen, Europeans, strange wall), 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:pg73766:9:11
# text = There is hardly a more interesting specimen of vulcanism in New Zealand, for example, than the strange wall of grey-white lava rock which Europeans call the Giant’s Causeway and the Maoris “The Fire of Tamatea,” which protrudes from the hilltop just above Rapaki, and which may be seen again on the far side of the harbour, a volcanic dyke that the ancient people--with surely some perception of geological truth--connected in their legends with the internal fires of the North Island.
1	There	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	2	expl	_	_
2	is	be	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	hardly	hardly	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
5	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	6	advmod	_	_
6	interesting	interesting	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	specimen	specimen	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	vulcanism	vulcanism	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	_
10	in	in	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	New	New	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	12	flat	_	_
12	Zealand	Zealand	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
14	for	for	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	example	example	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
17	than	than	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
19	strange	strange	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
20	wall	wall	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	parataxis	_	_
21	of	of	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
22	grey	grey	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	22	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	white	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	amod	_	_
25	lava	lava	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	compound	_	_
26	rock	rock	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nmod	_	_
27	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	29	obj	_	_
28	Europeans	European	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	29	nsubj	_	_
29	call	call	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	26	acl:relcl	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
31	Giant	giant	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	33	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	’s	's	PART	POS	_	31	case	_	_
33	Causeway	Causeway	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	29	xcomp	_	_
34	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	Maoris	Maoris	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	33	conj	_	_
37	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	39	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
39	Fire	Fire	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	36	appos	_	_
40	of	of	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
41	Tamatea	Tamatea	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	39	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	43	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	20	punct	_	_
44	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	45	nsubj	_	_
45	protrudes	protrude	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	20	parataxis	_	_
46	from	from	ADP	IN	_	48	case	_	_
47	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	48	det	_	_
48	hilltop	hilltop	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	obl	_	_
49	just	just	ADV	RB	_	51	advmod	_	_
50	above	above	ADP	IN	_	51	case	_	_
51	Rapaki	Rapaki	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	45	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	57	punct	_	_
53	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	57	cc	_	_
54	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	57	nsubj:pass	_	_
55	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	57	aux	_	_
56	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	57	aux:pass	_	_
57	seen	see	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	45	advcl	_	_
58	again	again	ADV	RB	_	57	advmod	_	_
59	on	on	ADP	IN	_	62	case	_	_
60	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	62	det	_	_
61	far	far	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	62	amod	_	_
62	side	side	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	57	obl	_	_
63	of	of	ADP	IN	_	65	case	_	_
64	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	65	det	_	_
65	harbour	harbour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	62	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
66	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	69	punct	_	_
67	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	69	det	_	_
68	volcanic	volcanic	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	69	amod	_	_
69	dyke	dyke	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	62	conj	_	_
70	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	73	mark	_	_
71	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	73	det	_	_
72	ancient	ancient	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	73	amod	_	_
73	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	69	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
74	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	78	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
75	with	with	ADP	IN	_	78	case	_	_
76	surely	surely	ADV	RB	_	78	advmod	_	_
77	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	78	det	_	_
78	perception	perception	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	73	nmod	_	_
79	of	of	ADP	IN	_	81	case	_	_
80	geological	geological	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	81	amod	_	_
81	truth	truth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	78	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
82	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	83	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
83	connected	connect	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	73	acl	_	_
84	in	in	ADP	IN	_	86	case	_	_
85	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	86	nmod:poss	_	_
86	legends	legend	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	83	obl	_	_
87	with	with	ADP	IN	_	90	case	_	_
88	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	90	det	_	_
89	internal	internal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	90	amod	_	_
90	fires	fire	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	86	nmod	_	_
91	of	of	ADP	IN	_	94	case	_	_
92	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	94	det	_	_
93	North	North	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	94	compound	_	_
94	Island	Island	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	90	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
95	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be** | present | a interesting specimen of vulcanism in New Zealand for example |  |  | there |  | the strange wall of grey white lava rock *parataxis*; hardly *property* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **call** | present | Europeans | grey white lava rock |  |  |  | the Giant Causeway and the Maoris *xcomp* | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent which=Recipient |
| 3 | **protrude** | present | the strange wall of grey white lava rock |  |  | the hilltop |  | above Rapaki | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme above rapaki=Location |
| 4 | **see** | may · passive |  |  |  | the far side of the harbour and a volcanic dyke | again | which *nsubj:pass* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Stimulus |
| 5 | **connect** | participle |  | the ancient people with some perception of geological truth *not said here* |  | Europeans's legends with the internal fires of the North Island |  |  | vn mix-22.1-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Patient |
| 6 | **perceive** |  |  | geological truth |  |  |  |  | nom perception «cognition transitive»: of=patient |
| 7 | **fire** |  |  | the North Island |  |  |  |  | nom fire «event 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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