---
title: She said to the bird again: “You don’t know how to sing your song ni… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: She said to the bird again: “You don’t know how to sing your song nicely; let me go, and I will sing it for you.” Who acts: mother, bird, your. 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 
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, The Story of the Cannibal Mother and Her Children., sentence 74

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
She said to the bird again: “You don’t know how to sing your song nicely; let me go, and I will sing it for you.”

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** mother, bird, your · **What happens:** say, not know, sing, let, go · **To what, where:** bird, song, mother · **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 (mother, bird, your), 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:pg71335:15:74
# text = She said to the bird again: “You don’t know how to sing your song nicely; let me go, and I will sing it for you.”
1	She	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	to	to	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
6	again	again	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	12	punct	_	_
8	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	You	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
10	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	n’t	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	12	advmod	_	_
12	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	ccomp	_	_
13	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	15	advmod	_	_
14	to	to	PART	TO	_	15	mark	_	_
15	sing	sing	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	xcomp	_	_
16	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	17	nmod:poss	_	_
17	song	song	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	_
18	nicely	nicely	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
20	let	let	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	12	parataxis	_	_
21	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	20	obj	_	_
22	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
25	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
26	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	27	aux	_	_
27	sing	sing	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	conj	_	_
28	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	obj	_	_
29	for	for	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
30	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	27	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	12	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | mother |  | the bird |  | again |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to bird=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 2 | **not** **know** *in a quote* | present · do-support | the bird *= bird* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 3 | **sing** *speech: express* *in a quote* | to-infinitive | the bird *= bird* *not said here* | your song |  |  |  | nicely *property* | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location song=Theme |
| 4 | **let** *in a quote* | infinitive |  | mother |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **go** *in a quote* | infinitive | mother *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **sing** *speech: express* *in a quote* | future | mother | song |  |  |  | for the bird *= bird* | vn performance-26.7-1 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent it=Theme for you=Beneficiary |
| 7 | **sing** *in a quote* |  | your |  |  |  |  |  | nom song «communication intransitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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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