---
title: Before the introduction of firearms the Kaffir used a shield to defe… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: Before the introduction of firearms the Kaffir used a shield to defend his person. Who acts: Kaffir. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Introductory Chapter Regarding the Kaffirs., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, Introductory Chapter Regarding the Kaffirs., sentence 101

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Before the introduction of firearms the Kaffir used a shield to defend his person.

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**Who acts:** Kaffir · **What happens:** use, defend, introduce · **To what, where:** shield, person, firearms

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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 (Kaffir), 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:pg71335:2:101
# text = Before the introduction of firearms the Kaffir used a shield to defend his person.
1	Before	before	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	introduction	introduction	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	firearms	firearm	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nmod	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	Kaffir	Kaffir	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
8	used	use	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	shield	shield	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
11	to	to	PART	TO	_	12	mark	_	_
12	defend	defend	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	advcl	_	_
13	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	14	nmod:poss	_	_
14	person	person	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **use** | past | the Kaffir | a shield |  |  | before the introduction of firearms |  | vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent shield=Patient |
| 2 | **defend** | to-infinitive | the Kaffir *not said here* |  | Kaffir's person |  |  |  | vn defend-72.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent person=Beneficiary |
| 3 | **introduce** |  |  | firearms |  |  |  |  | nom introduction «act transitive»: of=patient |

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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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