---
title: After the little girl had been taken away by the birds, her mother h… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: After the little girl had been taken away by the birds, her mother had a son, one of whose sides was flesh like other people’s, and the other side was iron. Who acts: birds, mother, other side. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Story of Ironside and His Sister., with its depen
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, Story of Ironside and His Sister., sentence 18

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After the little girl had been taken away by the birds, her mother had a son, one of whose sides was flesh like other people’s, and the other side was iron.

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**Who acts:** birds, mother, other side · **What happens:** take away, have, be · **To what, where:** little girl, son, one flesh, iron

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This is a sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Story of Ironside and His Sister.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (birds, mother, other side), 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:pg71335:13:18
# text = After the little girl had been taken away by the birds, her mother had a son, one of whose sides was flesh like other people’s, and the other side was iron.
1	After	after	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	girl	girl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj:pass	_	_
5	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
6	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	7	aux:pass	_	_
7	taken	take	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	15	advcl	_	_
8	away	away	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
9	by	by	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
13	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	14	nmod:poss	_	_
14	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nsubj	_	_
15	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
16	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
19	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	24	nummod	_	_
20	of	of	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	whose	whose	PRON	WP$	Poss=Yes|PronType=Rel	22	nmod:poss	_	_
22	sides	side	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	nmod	_	_
23	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	cop	_	_
24	flesh	flesh	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	appos	_	_
25	like	like	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	amod	_	_
27	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	24	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	’s	's	PART	POS	_	27	case	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
30	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
32	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	33	amod	_	_
33	side	side	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	nsubj	_	_
34	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	35	cop	_	_
35	iron	iron	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	15	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **take away** | past · perfect · passive | the birds | the little girl |  |  |  | away *property* | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme |
| 2 | **have** | past | girl's mother | a son |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent son=Patient |
| 3 | **is a** | past |  | one flesh |  |  |  | like other people | tree rules |
| 4 | **is a** | past | the other side | iron |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .note -->
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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