---
title: He said to them: “You foolish boys, you only suck the goats, you don… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: He said to them: “You foolish boys, you only suck the goats, you don’t milk them in any vessel; why don’t you ask me to lend you this pot?” Who acts: Hlakanyana, birds. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of Hlakanyana., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of e
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, The Story of Hlakanyana., sentence 217

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He said to them: “You foolish boys, you only suck the goats, you don’t milk them in any vessel; why don’t you ask me to lend you this pot?”

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**Who acts:** Hlakanyana, birds · **What happens:** say, boy, suck, do, not ask, lend · **To what, where:** birds, goats, milk, vessel, Hlakanyana, pot · **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, birds), 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:pg71335:10:217
# text = He said to them: “You foolish boys, you only suck the goats, you don’t milk them in any vessel; why don’t you ask me to lend you this pot?”
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	_	_
3	to	to	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	9	punct	_	_
6	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	You	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
8	foolish	foolish	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	boys	boy	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
11	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
12	only	only	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
13	suck	suck	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	conj	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	goats	goat	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
17	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
18	do	do	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	n’t	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	20	advmod	_	_
20	milk	milk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obj	_	_
21	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	obj	_	_
22	in	in	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	24	det	_	_
24	vessel	vessel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
26	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	30	advmod	_	_
27	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	30	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	n’t	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	30	advmod	_	_
29	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
30	ask	ask	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
31	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	30	iobj	_	_
32	to	to	PART	TO	_	33	mark	_	_
33	lend	lend	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	30	xcomp	_	_
34	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	33	obj	_	_
35	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	36	det	_	_
36	pot	pot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	”	"	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: ask* | past | Hlakanyana |  | birds *= bird* |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to they=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 2 | **boy** *in a quote* |  | birds *= bird* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **suck** *in a quote* | present | birds *= bird* | the goats |  |  |  |  | vn wipe\_manner-10.4.1-1 «NP V NP.source»: agent=Agent goat=Source |
| 4 | **do** *in a quote* | present | birds *= bird* | milk |  | any vessel |  | goats *= goat* *obj* | tree rules |
| 5 | **not** **ask** *speech: ask* *in a quote* | present · do-support | birds *= bird* |  | Hlakanyana |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S\_INF»: agent=Agent i=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 6 | **lend** *not said to happen, in a quote* | to-infinitive | birds *= bird* *not said here* | this pot | birds *= bird* |  |  |  | vn give-13.1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent you=Recipient pot=Theme |

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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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