---
title: So they called them by name, and the dogs came running to the tree a… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: So they called them by name, and the dogs came running to the tree and ate up the cannibal, who was too tired to make her escape. Who acts: dogs, cannibal, Ntengu. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Runaway Children; Or, the Wonderful Feather., with its dependency tree and 
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, The Runaway Children; Or, the Wonderful Feather., sentence 51

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So they called them by name, and the dogs came running to the tree and ate up the cannibal, who was too tired to make her escape.

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**Who acts:** dogs, cannibal, Ntengu · **What happens:** call, come, run, eat up, be, make · **To what, where:** eyes, cannibal, Ntengu · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Runaway Children; Or, the Wonderful Feather.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (dogs, cannibal, Ntengu), 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:pg71335:12:51
# text = So they called them by name, and the dogs came running to the tree and ate up the cannibal, who was too tired to make her escape.
1	So	so	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	called	call	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	obj	_	_
5	by	by	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	name	name	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	dogs	dog	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	nsubj	_	_
11	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
12	running	run	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	11	advcl	_	_
13	to	to	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
17	ate	eat	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	conj	_	_
18	up	up	ADP	RP	_	17	compound:prt	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	cannibal	cannibal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
22	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	25	nsubj	_	_
23	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	cop	_	_
24	too	too	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	_
25	tired	tired	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	parataxis	_	_
26	to	to	PART	TO	_	27	mark	_	_
27	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	25	advcl	_	_
28	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	obj	_	_
29	escape	escape	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	27	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **call** *speech: assert* | past | dogs *= dog* | eyes *= eye* |  |  |  | by name | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent they=Recipient |
| 2 | **come** | past | the dogs |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **run** | gerund | the dogs *not said here* |  |  |  |  | to the tree *result* | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.result»: agent=Theme to tree=Result |
| 4 | **eat up** | past | the dogs *not said here* | the cannibal |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent cannibal=Patient |
| 5 | **is** | past | the cannibal |  |  |  |  | tired *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **make** | to-infinitive | the cannibal *not said here* | Ntengu |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **escape** | infinitive | Ntengu *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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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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