---
title: The ox licked her till her life came back, and as soon as she was st… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: The ox licked her till her life came back, and as soon as she was strong once more, she told what had happened. Who acts: ox, life. 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 55

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The ox licked her till her life came back, and as soon as she was strong once more, she told what had happened.

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**Who acts:** ox, life · **What happens:** lick, come back, be, tell, happen · **To what, where:** Mbulukazi · **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 (ox, life), 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:pg71335:17:55
# text = The ox licked her till her life came back, and as soon as she was strong once more, she told what had happened.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	ox	ox	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	licked	lick	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	obj	_	_
5	till	till	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
6	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	life	life	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
8	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
9	back	back	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
12	as	as	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
13	soon	soon	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	22	advmod	_	_
14	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
15	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
16	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	cop	_	_
17	strong	strong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	advcl	_	_
18	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	19	advmod	_	_
19	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	17	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
21	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
22	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
23	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	25	nsubj	_	_
24	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	aux	_	_
25	happened	happen	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	22	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **lick** | past | the ox | Mbulukazi |  |  |  |  | vn wipe\_manner-10.4.1-1 «NP V NP.source»: agent=Agent she=Source |
| 2 | **come back** | past | Mbulukazi's life |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **is** | past | life |  |  |  |  | strong *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | life |  |  |  |  | soon *property* | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 5 | **happen** | past · perfect |  |  |  |  |  | what *nsubj* | vn occur-48.3-1 «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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