---
title: Then he wished to kill the calf, but he said to himself: “If I kill… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: Then he wished to kill the calf, but he said to himself: “If I kill this calf I shall not be able to get milk from the eland.” Who acts: Tumtumse. 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 67

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Then he wished to kill the calf, but he said to himself: “If I kill this calf I shall not be able to get milk from the eland.”

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**Who acts:** Tumtumse · **What happens:** wish, kill, say, not be, get · **To what, where:** calf, Tumtumse, milk, eland · **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 (Tumtumse), 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:pg71335:19:67
# text = Then he wished to kill the calf, but he said to himself: “If I kill this calf I shall not be able to get milk from the eland.”
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	3	advmod	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	wished	wish	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	kill	kill	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	calf	calf	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
9	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
10	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
11	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
12	to	to	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	25	punct	_	_
15	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	25	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	18	mark	_	_
17	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
18	kill	kill	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	25	advcl	_	_
19	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	20	det	_	_
20	calf	calf	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obj	_	_
21	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
22	shall	shall	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	25	aux	_	_
23	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	25	advmod	_	_
24	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	25	cop	_	_
25	able	able	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	ccomp	_	_
26	to	to	PART	TO	_	27	mark	_	_
27	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	25	xcomp	_	_
28	milk	milk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obj	_	_
29	from	from	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	eland	eland	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **wish** | past | Tumtumse |  |  |  | then |  | vn wish-62 «NP V for NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 2 | **kill** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | Tumtumse *not said here* | the calf |  |  |  |  | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent calf=Theme |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Tumtumse |  | Tumtumse |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to himself=Recipient |
| 4 | **kill** *a condition, not said to happen, in a quote* | present | Tumtumse | this calf |  |  |  |  | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent calf=Theme |
| 5 | **not** **is** *in a quote* | shall | Tumtumse |  |  |  |  | able *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **get** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | Tumtumse *not said here* | milk |  | the eland |  |  | vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent milk=Theme from eland=Source |

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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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