---
title: Alternatively, other scholars argue for derivation of the Greek name… — Malta · tree and pragmatics
description: Alternatively, other scholars argue for derivation of the Greek name from an original Phoenician or Punic (,), meaning "haven", "refuge" or "port", in reference to the Grand Harbour and its primary settlement at Cospicua following the sea level rise that separated the Maltese islands and flooded the
---

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# Malta, sentence 22

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From Wikipedia, [«Malta»](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malta), revision of the 2026-09-01 dump, [CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). The trees and pragmatics of these pages, Mova's parse of that text, are CC BY-SA 4.0 too.

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Alternatively, other scholars argue for derivation of the Greek name from an original Phoenician or Punic (,), meaning "haven", "refuge" or "port", in reference to the Grand Harbour and its primary settlement at Cospicua following the sea level rise that separated the Maltese islands and flooded their original coastal settlements in the 10th century BC.

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**Who acts:** other scholars, primary settlement, level rise · **What happens:** argue, mean, follow, separate, flood · **To what, where:** original Phoenician, haven, level rise, Maltese islands, original coastal settlements

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This is a sentence of the English Wikipedia article «Malta». The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (other scholars, primary settlement, level rise), 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 article's note marks are left out of the parse.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = wikipedia:Malta:22
# text = Alternatively, other scholars argue for derivation of the Greek name from an original Phoenician or Punic (,), meaning "haven", "refuge" or "port", in reference to the Grand Harbour and its primary settlement at Cospicua following the sea level rise that separated the Maltese islands and flooded their original coastal settlements in the 10th century BC.
1	Alternatively	alternatively	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	scholars	scholar	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
5	argue	argue	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	for	for	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	derivation	derivation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	Greek	Greek	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	name	name	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	_
12	from	from	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
13	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
14	original	original	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	Phoenician	phoenician	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
16	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
17	Punic	punic	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	conj	_	_
18	(	(	PUNCT	-LRB-	_	17	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	)	)	PUNCT	-RRB-	_	17	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
22	meaning	mean	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	5	advcl	_	_
23	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	24	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	haven	haven	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	24	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
27	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	28	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	refuge	refuge	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	28	punct	_	_
30	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
31	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	32	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	port	port	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	32	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
35	in	in	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
36	reference	reference	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	_
37	to	to	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
38	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
39	Grand	Grand	ADJ	NNP	Degree=Pos	40	amod	_	_
40	Harbour	Harbour	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	36	nmod	_	_
41	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	44	cc	_	_
42	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	44	nmod:poss	_	_
43	primary	primary	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	44	amod	_	_
44	settlement	settlement	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	conj	_	_
45	at	at	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
46	Cospicua	Cospicua	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	44	nmod	_	_
47	following	follow	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	44	acl	_	_
48	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	51	det	_	_
49	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	50	compound	_	_
50	level	level	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	51	compound	_	_
51	rise	rise	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	obj	_	_
52	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	53	nsubj	_	_
53	separated	separate	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	51	acl:relcl	_	_
54	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	56	det	_	_
55	Maltese	maltese	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	56	amod	_	_
56	islands	island	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	53	obj	_	_
57	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	58	cc	_	_
58	flooded	flood	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	53	conj	_	_
59	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	62	nmod:poss	_	_
60	original	original	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	62	amod	_	_
61	coastal	coastal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	62	amod	_	_
62	settlements	settlement	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	58	obj	_	_
63	in	in	ADP	IN	_	66	case	_	_
64	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	66	det	_	_
65	10th	10th	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Combi|NumType=Ord	66	amod	_	_
66	century	century	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	58	obl	_	_
67	BC	BC	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	66	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
68	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **argue** *speech: disagree* | present | other scholars |  |  | a original Phoenician |  | for derivation of the Greek name; alternatively *property* | vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **mean** | gerund | other scholars *not said here* | haven |  |  |  | in reference to the Grand Harbour and name's primary settlement at Cospicua; refuge or port *obl* | vn representation-110.1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Pivot haven=Theme in reference=Attribute |
| 3 | **follow** | gerund | name's primary settlement at Cospicua *not said here* | the level rise |  |  |  |  | vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent rise=Theme |
| 4 | **separate** | past | the level rise | the Maltese islands |  |  |  |  | vn separate-23.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent island=Patient |
| 5 | **flood** | past | the level rise *not said here* | scholars's original coastal settlements |  |  | century |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent settlement=Patient |

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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:** the English Wikipedia, «Malta», revision of the 2026-09-01 dump, CC BY-SA 4.0. **Tree:** Mova's own parse, CC BY-SA 4.0 as the text is. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), the article read in order, CC BY-SA 4.0.

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