---
title: He asked for some meat, saying: “Father, father, give me a piece of… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: He asked for some meat, saying: “Father, father, give me a piece of meat.” Who acts: face. 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 23

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He asked for some meat, saying: “Father, father, give me a piece of meat.”

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**Who acts:** face · **What happens:** ask, say, give · **To what, where:** Father, piece, face · **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 (face), 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:pg71335:10:23
# text = He asked for some meat, saying: “Father, father, give me a piece of meat.”
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	for	for	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	5	det	_	_
5	meat	meat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
7	saying	say	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	10	punct	_	_
9	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	Father	Father	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
12	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
14	give	give	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	conj	_	_
15	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	14	iobj	_	_
16	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	piece	piece	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	_
18	of	of	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	meat	meat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	10	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | face |  |  |  |  | for some meat | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | gerund | face *not said here* | Father and father |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent father=Topic |
| 3 | **give** *in a quote* | infinitive | face *not said here* | a piece of meat | face |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent i=Recipient piece=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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