---
title: He said to them: “You only suck the cows without letting the calf su… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: He said to them: “You only suck the cows without letting the calf suck first. Who acts: Hlakanyana, goats, calf. 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 232

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He said to them: “You only suck the cows without letting the calf suck first.

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**Who acts:** Hlakanyana, goats, calf · **What happens:** say, suck, let · **To what, where:** goats, cows, calf · **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, goats, calf), 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:pg71335:10:232
# text = He said to them: “You only suck the cows without letting the calf suck first.
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	only	only	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
9	suck	suck	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	cows	cow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obj	_	_
12	without	without	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
13	letting	let	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	9	advcl	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	calf	calf	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	_
16	suck	suck	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	13	xcomp	_	_
17	first	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	16	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	.	.	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 |  | goats *= goat* |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to they=Recipient |
| 2 | **suck** *in a quote* | present | goats *= goat* | the cows |  |  |  |  | vn wipe\_manner-10.4.1-1 «NP V NP.source»: agent=Agent cow=Source |
| 3 | **let** *in a quote* | gerund | goats *= goat* *not said here* | the calf |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **suck** *in a quote* | present | the calf *not said here* |  |  |  |  | first *property* | vn chew-39.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

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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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- ← previous: [sentence 231](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg71335/10/231/)
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- ↑ back to [The Story of Hlakanyana.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg71335/10/)