---
title: He said: “Let me go and ask the women; perhaps they saw who ate the… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: He said: “Let me go and ask the women; perhaps they saw who ate the meat of the chief.” Who acts: Hlakanyana, women. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of Hlakanyana., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, The Story of Hlakanyana., sentence 133

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He said: “Let me go and ask the women; perhaps they saw who ate the meat of the chief.”

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**Who acts:** Hlakanyana, women · **What happens:** say, let, go, ask, see, eat · **To what, where:** Hlakanyana, women, meat · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of Hlakanyana.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Hlakanyana, women), 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:pg71335:10:133
# text = He said: “Let me go and ask the women; perhaps they saw who ate the meat of the chief.”
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	5	punct	_	_
4	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	Let	let	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	ccomp	_	_
6	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	5	obj	_	_
7	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	xcomp	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	ask	ask	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	conj	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	women	woman	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
13	perhaps	perhaps	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
14	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
15	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
16	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	17	nsubj	_	_
17	ate	eat	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	ccomp	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	meat	meat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	_
20	of	of	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	chief	chief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Hlakanyana |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **let** *in a quote* | infinitive |  | Hlakanyana |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **go** *in a quote* | infinitive | Hlakanyana *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **ask** *speech: ask* *in a quote* | infinitive |  |  | the women |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent woman=Recipient |
| 5 | **see** *in a quote* | past | women *= woman* |  |  |  |  | perhaps *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 6 | **eat** *in a quote* | past |  | the meat of the chief |  |  |  | who *nsubj* | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent meat=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:** «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Project Gutenberg book 71335 (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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