---
title: The cannibals said: “We will take the white one, because it is white… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: The cannibals said: “We will take the white one, because it is white inside also.” Who acts: cannibals, We, ox. 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 298

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The cannibals said: “We will take the white one, because it is white inside also.”

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**Who acts:** cannibals, We, ox · **What happens:** say, take, be · **To what, where:** white one · **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 (cannibals, We, ox), 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:pg71335:10:298
# text = The cannibals said: “We will take the white one, because it is white inside also.”
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	cannibals	cannibal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	8	punct	_	_
5	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	We	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
7	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
8	take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	ccomp	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	white	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
13	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	16	mark	_	_
14	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
15	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	16	cop	_	_
16	white	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	parataxis	_	_
17	inside	inside	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
18	also	also	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	8	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 | the cannibals |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **take** *in a quote* | future | We | the white one |  |  |  | inside *property* | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent one=Theme |
| 3 | **is** *in a quote* | present | ox |  |  |  |  | white *property* | tree rules |

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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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