--- title: The Muslim chronicler and geographer Ibn ʿAbd al-Munʿim al-Ḥimyarī r… — Malta · tree and pragmatics description: The Muslim chronicler and geographer Ibn ʿAbd al-Munʿim al-Ḥimyarī recounts that, in 870, following a violent struggle against the defending Byzantines, the Arab invaders, first led by Halaf al-Hadim and later by Sawada ibn Muhammad, pillaged the island, destroying the most important buildings and l --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/wikipedia/en/Malta/59/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [wikipedia](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/wikipedia/) / [en](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/wikipedia/en/) / [Malta](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/wikipedia/en/Malta/) / 59 # Malta, sentence 59 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. The Muslim chronicler and geographer Ibn ʿAbd al-Munʿim al-Ḥimyarī recounts that, in 870, following a violent struggle against the defending Byzantines, the Arab invaders, first led by Halaf al-Hadim and later by Sawada ibn Muhammad, pillaged the island, destroying the most important buildings and leaving it practically uninhabited until it was recolonized by the Arabs from Sicily in 1048–1049. **Who acts:** Ibn ʿAbd, Arabs · **What happens:** recount, follow, defend, lead, pillage, destroy · **To what, where:** that, 870, violent struggle, defending Byzantines, island, important buildings 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 (Ibn ʿAbd, Arabs), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:59 # text = The Muslim chronicler and geographer Ibn ʿAbd al-Munʿim al-Ḥimyarī recounts that, in 870, following a violent struggle against the defending Byzantines, the Arab invaders, first led by Halaf al-Hadim and later by Sawada ibn Muhammad, pillaged the island, destroying the most important buildings and leaving it practically uninhabited until it was recolonized by the Arabs from Sicily in 1048–1049. 1 The the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 3 det _ _ 2 Muslim Muslim ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 3 amod _ _ 3 chronicler chronicler NOUN NN Number=Sing 7 nsubj _ _ 4 and and CCONJ CC _ 5 cc _ _ 5 geographer geographer NOUN NN Number=Sing 3 conj _ _ 6 Ibn Ibn PROPN NNP Number=Sing 7 compound _ _ 7 ʿAbd ʿAbd PROPN NNP Number=Sing 14 nsubj _ _ 8 al Al PROPN NNP Number=Sing 7 flat _ SpaceAfter=No 9 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 10 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 10 Munʿim Munʿim PROPN NNP Number=Sing 7 flat _ _ 11 al Al PROPN NNP Number=Sing 10 flat _ SpaceAfter=No 12 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 13 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 13 Ḥimyarī Ḥimyarī PROPN NNP Number=Sing 10 conj _ _ 14 recounts recount VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 15 that that PRON DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 14 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 16 , , PUNCT , _ 18 punct _ _ 17 in in ADP IN _ 18 case _ _ 18 870 870 NUM CD NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card 14 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 19 , , PUNCT , _ 20 punct _ _ 20 following follow VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 14 advcl _ _ 21 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 23 det _ _ 22 violent violent ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 23 amod _ _ 23 struggle struggle NOUN NN Number=Sing 20 obj _ _ 24 against against ADP IN _ 27 case _ _ 25 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 27 det _ _ 26 defending defend VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 27 amod _ _ 27 Byzantines Byzantine PROPN NNPS Number=Plur 23 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 28 , , PUNCT , _ 31 punct _ _ 29 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 31 det _ _ 30 Arab Arab ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 31 amod _ _ 31 invaders invader NOUN NNS Number=Plur 27 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 32 , , PUNCT , _ 34 punct _ _ 33 first first ADV RB NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord 34 advmod _ _ 34 led lead VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 27 acl _ _ 35 by by ADP IN _ 36 case _ _ 36 Halaf Halaf PROPN NNP Number=Sing 34 obl _ _ 37 al Al PROPN NNP Number=Sing 36 flat _ SpaceAfter=No 38 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 39 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 39 Hadim Hadim PROPN NNP Number=Sing 36 conj _ _ 40 and and CCONJ CC _ 47 cc _ _ 41 later late ADV RBR Degree=Cmp 47 advmod _ _ 42 by by ADP IN _ 43 case _ _ 43 Sawada Sawada PROPN NNP Number=Sing 47 obl _ _ 44 ibn Ibn PROPN NNP Number=Sing 43 flat _ _ 45 Muhammad Muhammad PROPN NNP Number=Sing 44 flat _ SpaceAfter=No 46 , , PUNCT , _ 43 punct _ _ 47 pillaged pillage VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 36 conj _ _ 48 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 49 det _ _ 49 island island NOUN NN Number=Sing 47 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 50 , , PUNCT , _ 51 punct _ _ 51 destroying destroy VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 14 advcl _ _ 52 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 55 det _ _ 53 most most ADV RBS Degree=Sup 54 advmod _ _ 54 important important ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 55 amod _ _ 55 buildings building NOUN NNS Number=Plur 51 obj _ _ 56 and and CCONJ CC _ 57 cc _ _ 57 leaving leave VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 51 conj _ _ 58 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 57 obj _ _ 59 practically practically ADV RB _ 60 advmod _ _ 60 uninhabited uninhabited ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 57 xcomp _ _ 61 until until SCONJ IN _ 64 mark _ _ 62 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 64 nsubj:pass _ _ 63 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 64 aux:pass _ _ 64 recolonized recolonize VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 57 advcl _ _ 65 by by ADP IN _ 67 case _ _ 66 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 67 det _ _ 67 Arabs Arab PROPN NNPS Number=Plur 64 obl _ _ 68 from from ADP IN _ 69 case _ _ 69 Sicily Sicily PROPN NNP Number=Sing 64 obl _ _ 70 in in ADP IN _ 71 case _ _ 71 1048 1048 NUM CD NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card 64 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 72 – - PUNCT , _ 73 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 73 1049 1049 NUM CD NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card 71 flat _ SpaceAfter=No 74 . . PUNCT . _ 14 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **recount** *speech: other* | present | Ibn ʿAbd the Muslim chronicler and geographer | that | | 870 | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent that=Topic | | 2 | **follow** | gerund | Ibn ʿAbd the Muslim chronicler and geographer *not said here* | a violent struggle | | the defending Byzantines and the Arab invaders | | | vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent struggle=Theme against byzantine=Trajectory | | 3 | **defend** | gerund | | | | | | | vn defend-72.3 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent | | 4 | **lead** | participle | | the defending Byzantines and the Arab invaders *not said here* | | | | by Halaf and Hadim; first *property* | vn accompany-51.7 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent by halaf=Destination | | 5 | **pillage** | past | | the island | | | | by Sawada; late *property* | tree rules | | 6 | **destroy** | gerund | Ibn ʿAbd the Muslim chronicler and geographer *not said here* | the important buildings | | | | | vn destroy-44 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent building=Patient | | 7 | **leave** | gerund | Ibn ʿAbd the Muslim chronicler and geographer *not said here* | island | | | | uninhabited *property* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme | | 8 | **recolonize** | past · passive | the Arabs | island | | Sicily | | in 1048 | tree rules | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 58](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/wikipedia/en/Malta/58/) - next →: [sentence 60](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/wikipedia/en/Malta/60/) - ↑ back to [Malta](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/wikipedia/en/Malta/)