---
title: While they were fastening the thatch, Hlakanyana sewed the hair of t… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: While they were fastening the thatch, Hlakanyana sewed the hair of the tail of the hyena fast. Who acts: others, Hlakanyana. 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 320

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While they were fastening the thatch, Hlakanyana sewed the hair of the tail of the hyena fast.

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**Who acts:** others, Hlakanyana · **What happens:** fasten, sew · **To what, where:** thatch, hair

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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 (others, Hlakanyana), 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:pg71335:10:320
# text = While they were fastening the thatch, Hlakanyana sewed the hair of the tail of the hyena fast.
1	While	while	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	fastening	fasten	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	9	advcl	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	thatch	thatch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
8	Hlakanyana	Hlakanyana	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
9	sewed	sew	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	hair	hair	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
12	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	tail	tail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nmod	_	_
15	of	of	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	hyena	hyena	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nmod	_	_
18	fast	fast	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	9	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fasten** | past · progressive | others *= other* | the thatch |  |  |  |  | vn shake-22.3-2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent thatch=Patient |
| 2 | **sew** | past | Hlakanyana | the hair of the tail of the hyena |  |  |  | fast *property* | vn build-26.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent hair=Product |

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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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