---
title: But when they arrived there the mbulu said: “You must tell the peopl… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: But when they arrived there the mbulu said: “You must tell the people here that you are my servant, and that I am the daughter of a chief.” Who acts: girls, mbulu, You. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Story of the Girl and the Mbulu., with its dependency tree and the pragmat
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, Story of the Girl and the Mbulu., sentence 21

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But when they arrived there the mbulu said: “You must tell the people here that you are my servant, and that I am the daughter of a chief.”

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** girls, mbulu, You · **What happens:** arrive, say, tell, be · **To what, where:** people, servant, daughter · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Story of the Girl and the Mbulu.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (girls, mbulu, You), 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:pg71335:16:21
# text = But when they arrived there the mbulu said: “You must tell the people here that you are my servant, and that I am the daughter of a chief.”
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
2	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
3	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	arrived	arrive	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	advcl	_	_
5	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	4	advmod	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	mbulu	mbulu	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
8	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	13	punct	_	_
10	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	You	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
12	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
13	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	ccomp	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	iobj	_	_
16	here	here	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	13	advmod	_	_
17	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	21	mark	_	_
18	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
19	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	21	cop	_	_
20	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	21	nmod:poss	_	_
21	servant	servant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
24	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	28	mark	_	_
25	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
26	am	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	28	cop	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	daughter	daughter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	_
29	of	of	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	chief	chief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	13	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **arrive** | past | girls *= girl* |  |  | there |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the mbulu |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **tell** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | must | You |  | the people | here |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent people=Recipient |
| 4 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | you | my servant |  |  |  | my *nmod:poss* | tree rules |
| 5 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | the mbulu *= mbulu* | the daughter |  |  |  | of a chief | 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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