---
title: There was living at that place a man called Kenkebe, and one day his… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: There was living at that place a man called Kenkebe, and one day his wife said to him, “My husband, go to my father and ask him to give us some corn.” Who acts: wife, husband. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of Kenkebe., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics 
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, The Story of Kenkebe., sentence 3

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There was living at that place a man called Kenkebe, and one day his wife said to him, “My husband, go to my father and ask him to give us some corn.”

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**Who acts:** wife, husband · **What happens:** be, live, call, say, go, ask · **To what, where:** place, man, Kenkebe, husband, corn, us · **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 (wife, husband), 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:pg71335:19:3
# text = There was living at that place a man called Kenkebe, and one day his wife said to him, “My husband, go to my father and ask him to give us some corn.”
1	There	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	2	expl	_	_
2	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	living	live	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	2	xcomp	_	_
4	at	at	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	6	det	_	_
6	place	place	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	appos	_	_
9	called	call	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	acl	_	_
10	Kenkebe	Kenkebe	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
13	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	14	nummod	_	_
14	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl:unmarked	_	_
15	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	16	nmod:poss	_	_
16	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nsubj	_	_
17	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
18	to	to	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
21	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	25	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	My	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	23	nmod:poss	_	_
23	husband	husband	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
25	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	ccomp	_	_
26	to	to	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	28	nmod:poss	_	_
28	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	_
29	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
30	ask	ask	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	25	conj	_	_
31	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	obj	_	_
32	to	to	PART	TO	_	33	mark	_	_
33	give	give	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	30	xcomp	_	_
34	us	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	33	iobj	_	_
35	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	36	det	_	_
36	corn	corn	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	25	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	25	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be** | past |  |  |  | there |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **live** | gerund |  |  |  | that place |  |  | vn lodge-46 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme at place=Location |
| 3 | **call** | participle |  | a man *not said here* |  |  |  | Kenkebe *xcomp* | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Kenkebe's wife |  | Kenkebe |  | day |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to he=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 5 | **go** *in a quote* | infinitive | My husband |  |  |  |  | to my father | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to father=Initial\_Location |
| 6 | **ask** *speech: ask* *in a quote* | infinitive | My husband *not said here* |  | husband |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S\_INF»: agent=Agent he=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 7 | **give** *not said to happen, in a quote* | to-infinitive | My husband *not said here* | some corn | us |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent we=Recipient corn=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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