---
title: A number of girls once went away from their homes early in the morni… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: A number of girls once went away from their homes early in the morning for the purpose of getting imbola (the red clay with which they colour their bodies and clothes). Who acts: number, purpose, homes. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Story of the Cannibal’s Wonderful Bird.,
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, Story of the Cannibal’s Wonderful Bird., sentence 1

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A number of girls once went away from their homes early in the morning for the purpose of getting imbola (the red clay with which they colour their bodies and clothes).

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**Who acts:** number, purpose, homes · **What happens:** go away, get, colour · **To what, where:** homes, imbola, bodies

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This is a sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Story of the Cannibal’s Wonderful Bird.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (number, purpose, homes), 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:pg71335:14:1
# text = A number of girls once went away from their homes early in the morning for the purpose of getting imbola (the red clay with which they colour their bodies and clothes).
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	number	number	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	girls	girl	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nmod	_	_
5	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	6	advmod	_	_
6	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	away	away	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
8	from	from	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	10	nmod:poss	_	_
10	homes	home	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obl	_	_
11	early	early	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	14	advmod	_	_
12	in	in	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	morning	morning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
15	for	for	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	purpose	purpose	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
18	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	19	mark	_	_
19	getting	get	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	17	acl	_	_
20	imbola	imbola	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obj	_	_
21	(	(	PUNCT	-LRB-	_	24	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
23	red	red	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	amod	_	_
24	clay	clay	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	appos	_	_
25	with	with	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
26	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	28	obl	_	_
27	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
28	colour	colour	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	24	acl:relcl	_	_
29	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	30	nmod:poss	_	_
30	bodies	body	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	28	obj	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
32	clothes	clothes	NOUN	NNS	Number=Ptan	30	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	)	)	PUNCT	-RRB-	_	24	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **go away** | past | a number of girls |  |  | girls's homes | morning | for the purpose; away, once *property* | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme from home=Initial\_Location |
| 2 | **get** | gerund | the purpose *not said here* | imbola |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer imbola=Stimulus |
| 3 | **colour** | present | homes *= home* | homes's bodies and clothes |  |  |  | with the red clay | tree rules |

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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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