---
title: As soon as the young chief saw the hut that the girl went to, he ret… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: As soon as the young chief saw the hut that the girl went to, he returned home with his party and asked his father for cattle with which to marry her. Who acts: girl, boy. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of Mbulukazi., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, The Story of Mbulukazi., sentence 24

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As soon as the young chief saw the hut that the girl went to, he returned home with his party and asked his father for cattle with which to marry her.

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**Who acts:** girl, boy · **What happens:** see, go, return, ask, marry · **To what, where:** hut, father, girl

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This is a sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of Mbulukazi.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (girl, boy), 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:pg71335:17:24
# text = As soon as the young chief saw the hut that the girl went to, he returned home with his party and asked his father for cattle with which to marry her.
1	As	as	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
2	soon	soon	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	7	advmod	_	_
3	as	as	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	chief	chief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
7	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	hut	hut	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
10	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	girl	girl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	_
13	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	advcl	_	_
14	to	to	ADP	IN	_	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
16	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
17	returned	return	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
18	home	home	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	_
19	with	with	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	21	nmod:poss	_	_
21	party	party	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
23	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
24	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	25	nmod:poss	_	_
25	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	iobj	_	_
26	for	for	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
27	cattle	cattle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	obl	_	_
28	with	with	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
29	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	31	obl	_	_
30	to	to	PART	TO	_	31	mark	_	_
31	marry	marry	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	27	acl:relcl	_	_
32	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **see** | past |  | the hut |  |  |  | as the young chief; soon *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer hut=Stimulus as chief=Attribute |
| 2 | **go** | past | the girl |  |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **return** | past | boy |  |  |  |  | with boy's party; home *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past |  |  | boy's father |  |  | for cattle | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent father=Recipient |
| 5 | **marry** | to-infinitive |  | girl |  |  |  | with cattle | vn amalgamate-22.2-3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent she=Patient |

<!-- .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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