---
title: Then the people said: “Let us kill an ox, perhaps the wife of the ch… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: Then the people said: “Let us kill an ox, perhaps the wife of the chief will then bear a child.” Who acts: people, us, wife. 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 5

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Then the people said: “Let us kill an ox, perhaps the wife of the chief will then bear a child.”

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**Who acts:** people, us, wife · **What happens:** say, let, kill, bear · **To what, where:** us, ox, child · **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 (people, us, wife), 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:pg71335:10:5
# text = Then the people said: “Let us kill an ox, perhaps the wife of the chief will then bear a child.”
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	4	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	7	punct	_	_
6	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	Let	let	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	ccomp	_	_
8	us	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	7	obj	_	_
9	kill	kill	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	xcomp	_	_
10	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	ox	ox	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
13	perhaps	perhaps	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nsubj	_	_
16	of	of	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	chief	chief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nmod	_	_
19	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	_
20	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	21	advmod	_	_
21	bear	bear	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	conj	_	_
22	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	child	child	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	7	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 people |  |  |  | then |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **let** *in a quote* | infinitive |  | us |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **kill** *in a quote* | infinitive | us *not said here* | a ox |  |  |  |  | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent ox=Theme |
| 4 | **bear** *in a quote* | future | the wife of the chief | a child |  |  | then | perhaps *property* | vn birth-28.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent child=Patient |

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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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