---
title: The woman said: “What is this? there was never a child that could sp… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: The woman said: “What is this? there was never a child that could speak before it was born.” Who acts: woman, child. 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 15

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The woman said: “What is this? there was never a child that could speak before it was born.”

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**Who acts:** woman, child · **What happens:** say, be, speak, bear · **To what, where:** this, 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 (woman, child), 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:pg71335:10:15
# text = The woman said: “What is this? there was never a child that could speak before it was born.”
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	6	punct	_	_
5	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	3	ccomp	_	_
7	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
8	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	6	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
10	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	11	expl	_	_
11	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	acl:relcl	_	_
12	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	14	advmod	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	child	child	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
15	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	17	nsubj	_	_
16	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
17	speak	speak	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	acl:relcl	_	_
18	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	21	mark	_	_
19	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj:pass	_	_
20	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	aux:pass	_	_
21	born	bear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	17	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: ask* | past | the woman |  |  |  |  | What *ccomp* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is a** *in a quote* | present |  | this |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **speak** *speech: other* *in a quote* | could | a child |  |  |  |  |  | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **bear** *in a quote* | past · passive |  | meat |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=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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