---
title: While they were killing the ox, the woman heard a voice saying: “Bea… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: While they were killing the ox, the woman heard a voice saying: “Bear me, mother, before the meat of my father is all finished.” Who acts: children, woman. 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 6

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While they were killing the ox, the woman heard a voice saying: “Bear me, mother, before the meat of my father is all finished.”

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**Who acts:** children, woman · **What happens:** kill, hear, say, bear, finish · **To what, where:** ox, voice, woman, meat · **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 (children, woman), 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:pg71335:10:6
# text = While they were killing the ox, the woman heard a voice saying: “Bear me, mother, before the meat of my father is all finished.”
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	killing	kill	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	10	advcl	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	ox	ox	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
10	heard	hear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	voice	voice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	_
13	saying	say	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	10	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	16	punct	_	_
15	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	16	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	Bear	bear	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	ccomp	_	_
17	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	16	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
19	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
21	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	29	mark	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	meat	meat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	nsubj:pass	_	_
24	of	of	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	26	nmod:poss	_	_
26	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	nmod	_	_
27	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	29	aux:pass	_	_
28	all	all	ADV	RB	_	29	advmod	_	_
29	finished	finish	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	16	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	16	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	16	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **kill** | past · progressive | children *= child* | the ox |  |  |  |  | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent ox=Theme |
| 2 | **hear** | past | the woman | a voice |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer voice=Stimulus |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | gerund | the woman *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **bear** *in a quote* | infinitive |  | the woman *= woman* |  |  |  | mother *conj* | vn birth-28.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent i=Patient |
| 5 | **finish** *in a quote* | present · passive |  | the meat of my father |  |  |  | all *property* | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: subject=Eventuality |

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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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