---
title: So the girl who was very black was told to come, but the young chief… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: So the girl who was very black was told to come, but the young chief said: “That is not the one I want; the one I saw was lighter in colour and much prettier.” Who acts: girl, young chief, That, I. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of Mbulukazi., with its dependency 
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, The Story of Mbulukazi., sentence 26

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So the girl who was very black was told to come, but the young chief said: “That is not the one I want; the one I saw was lighter in colour and much prettier.”

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**Who acts:** girl, young chief, That, I, one · **What happens:** be, tell, come, say, not be, want · **To what, where:** girl, one, colour · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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, young chief, That, I), 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:pg71335:17:26
# text = So the girl who was very black was told to come, but the young chief said: “That is not the one I want; the one I saw was lighter in colour and much prettier.”
1	So	so	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	girl	girl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj:pass	_	_
4	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	7	nsubj	_	_
5	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
6	very	very	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	black	black	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	acl:relcl	_	_
8	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	aux:pass	_	_
9	told	tell	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
10	to	to	PART	TO	_	11	mark	_	_
11	come	come	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
13	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
15	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	chief	chief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nsubj	_	_
17	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	24	punct	_	_
19	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	24	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	That	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	24	nsubj	_	_
21	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	24	cop	_	_
22	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	24	advmod	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	ccomp	_	_
25	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
26	want	want	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	24	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	33	punct	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	nsubj	_	_
30	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
31	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	acl:relcl	_	_
32	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	33	cop	_	_
33	lighter	light	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	9	parataxis	_	_
34	in	in	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
35	colour	colour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obl	_	_
36	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	38	cc	_	_
37	much	much	ADV	RB	_	38	advmod	_	_
38	prettier	pretty	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	33	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the girl |  |  |  |  | black *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past · passive |  | the girl |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: subject=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 3 | **come** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the girl *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the young chief |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **not** **is a** *in a quote* | present | That | the one |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **want** *in a quote* | present | I | the one *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot one=Theme |
| 7 | **see** *in a quote* | past | I | the one *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer one=Stimulus |
| 8 | **is** *in a quote* | past | the one |  |  | colour |  | light *property* | tree rules |
| 9 | **be** *in a quote* |  | the one *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | 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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