---
title: Then their father said to them: “When we lie down to sleep, you must… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: Then their father said to them: “When we lie down to sleep, you must be watchful. Who acts: father, we, children. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of the Cannibal Mother and Her Children., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, The Story of the Cannibal Mother and Her Children., sentence 30

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Then their father said to them: “When we lie down to sleep, you must be watchful.

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**Who acts:** father, we, children · **What happens:** say, lie down, sleep, be · **To what, where:** children · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of the Cannibal Mother and Her Children.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (father, we, children), 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:pg71335:15:30
# text = Then their father said to them: “When we lie down to sleep, you must be watchful.
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	4	advmod	_	_
2	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
3	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	11	punct	_	_
8	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	When	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	11	advmod	_	_
10	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
11	lie	lie	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	ccomp	_	_
12	down	down	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
13	to	to	PART	TO	_	14	mark	_	_
14	sleep	sleep	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
16	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
17	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
18	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	cop	_	_
19	watchful	watchful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | children's father |  | children *= child* |  | then |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to they=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 2 | **lie down** *in a quote* | present | we |  |  |  |  | down *property* | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **sleep** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | we *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn snooze-40.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **is** *in a quote* | must | children *= child* |  |  |  |  | watchful *property* | 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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