---
title: The girl’s brother was among those boys, and he thought the bird san… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: The girl’s brother was among those boys, and he thought the bird sang like his sister, but he was afraid to ask the cannibal to let him see. Who acts: brother, Sing, bird, cannibal. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Story of the Cannibal’s Wonderful Bird., with its dependency 
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, Story of the Cannibal’s Wonderful Bird., sentence 23

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The girl’s brother was among those boys, and he thought the bird sang like his sister, but he was afraid to ask the cannibal to let him see.

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**Who acts:** brother, Sing, bird, cannibal · **What happens:** be, think, sing, ask, let, see · **To what, where:** cannibal · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (brother, Sing, bird, cannibal), 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:pg71335:14:23
# text = The girl’s brother was among those boys, and he thought the bird sang like his sister, but he was afraid to ask the cannibal to let him see.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	girl	girl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	’s	's	PART	POS	_	2	case	_	_
4	brother	brother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
5	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
6	among	among	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	those	that	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	8	det	_	_
8	boys	boy	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
11	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	thought	think	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	parataxis	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nsubj	_	_
15	sang	sing	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	ccomp	_	_
16	like	like	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	18	nmod:poss	_	_
18	sister	sister	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
20	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
21	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
22	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	cop	_	_
23	afraid	afraid	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	conj	_	_
24	to	to	PART	TO	_	25	mark	_	_
25	ask	ask	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	xcomp	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	cannibal	cannibal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obj	_	_
28	to	to	PART	TO	_	29	mark	_	_
29	let	let	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	25	xcomp	_	_
30	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	obj	_	_
31	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	29	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the girl's brother |  |  |  |  | among that boys | tree rules |
| 2 | **think** *speech: other* | past | Sing |  |  |  |  |  | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 3 | **sing** *speech: express* | past | the bird |  |  |  |  | like Sing's sister | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP.location V PP.theme»: agent=Location |
| 4 | **is** | past | Sing |  |  |  |  | afraid *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **ask** *speech: ask* | to-infinitive | Sing *not said here* | the cannibal |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S\_INF»: agent=Agent cannibal=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 6 | **let** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the cannibal *not said here* | cannibal |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **see** | infinitive | cannibal *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |

<!-- .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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