---
title: But Broad Breast persisted, so the man called his wives, both of who… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: But Broad Breast persisted, so the man called his wives, both of whom denied that there was such a girl. Who acts: Broad Breast, man, both, girl. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of Mbulukazi., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, The Story of Mbulukazi., sentence 28

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But Broad Breast persisted, so the man called his wives, both of whom denied that there was such a girl.

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**Who acts:** Broad Breast, man, both, girl · **What happens:** persist, call, deny, be · **To what, where:** wives · **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 (Broad Breast, man, both, girl), 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:pg71335:17:28
# text = But Broad Breast persisted, so the man called his wives, both of whom denied that there was such a girl.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
2	Broad	Broad	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	Breast	Breast	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	persisted	persist	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
6	so	so	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
9	called	call	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
10	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	wives	wife	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
13	both	both	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	16	nsubj	_	_
14	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	16	mark	_	_
15	whom	whom	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	16	nsubj	_	_
16	denied	deny	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
17	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	19	mark	_	_
18	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	19	expl	_	_
19	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	ccomp	_	_
20	such	such	DET	PDT	PronType=Ind	22	det:predet	_	_
21	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	girl	girl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **persist** | past | Broad Breast |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **call** | past | the man |  | man's wives |  |  |  | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent wife=Recipient |
| 3 | **deny** | past | both |  |  |  |  | whom *nsubj* | vn conjecture-29.5 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 4 | **be** | past | such girl |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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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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