---
title: He said to her: “There is a great famine at your father’s also. — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: He said to her: “There is a great famine at your father’s also. Who acts: father, great famine. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of Kenkebe., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, The Story of Kenkebe., sentence 22

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He said to her: “There is a great famine at your father’s also.

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**Who acts:** father, great famine · **What happens:** say, be · **To what, where:** wife · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of Kenkebe.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (father, great famine), 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:pg71335:19:22
# text = He said to her: “There is a great famine at your father’s also.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	to	to	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	8	punct	_	_
6	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	There	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	8	expl	_	_
8	is	be	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	famine	famine	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
12	at	at	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
13	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	14	nmod:poss	_	_
14	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	’s	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	advcl	_	_
16	also	also	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | father |  | wife |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to she=Recipient |
| 2 | **be** *in a quote* | present | a great famine |  |  | 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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