---
title: Their language was the same, and their laws and customs varied very… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: Their language was the same, and their laws and customs varied very slightly; but in all that respected government they were absolutely independent of one another. Who acts: language, laws. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Introductory Chapter Regarding the Kaffirs., with its
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg71335/2/10/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Kaffir folk-lore](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg71335/) / [Introductory Chapter Regarding the Kaf…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg71335/2/) / 10

# Kaffir folk-lore, Introductory Chapter Regarding the Kaffirs., sentence 10

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Their language was the same, and their laws and customs varied very slightly; but in all that respected government they were absolutely independent of one another.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** language, laws · **What happens:** be, vary, respect · **To what, where:** government, that

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Introductory Chapter Regarding the Kaffirs.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (language, laws), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg71335:2:10
# text = Their language was the same, and their laws and customs varied very slightly; but in all that respected government they were absolutely independent of one another.
1	Their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	language	language	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	same	same	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
8	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	laws	law	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	nsubj	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	customs	custom	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	conj	_	_
12	varied	vary	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	advcl	_	_
13	very	very	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
14	slightly	slightly	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
16	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
17	in	in	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	19	det:predet	_	_
19	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	20	obl	_	_
20	respected	respect	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
21	government	government	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obj	_	_
22	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
23	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	cop	_	_
24	absolutely	absolutely	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	_
25	independent	independent	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	conj	_	_
26	of	of	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
27	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	25	obl	_	_
28	another	another	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	27	fixed	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | Europeans's language |  |  |  |  | same *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **vary** | past | Europeans's laws and customs |  |  |  |  | slightly *property* | vn caused\_calibratable\_cos-45.6.2-1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient |
| 3 | **respect** | past |  | government |  | that |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer government=Stimulus |
| 4 | **is** | past | laws *= law* |  |  |  |  | of one; absolutely, independent *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .note -->
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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg71335/2/9/)
- next →: [sentence 11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg71335/2/11/)
- ↑ back to [Introductory Chapter Regarding the Kaffirs.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg71335/2/)