---
title: They are taught to obey signals, as, for instance, to run home upon… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: They are taught to obey signals, as, for instance, to run home upon a certain call or whistle being given. Who acts: cattle. 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 109

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They are taught to obey signals, as, for instance, to run home upon a certain call or whistle being given.

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**Who acts:** cattle · **What happens:** teach, obey, run, give · **To what, where:** cattle, signals, certain call

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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 (cattle), 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:pg71335:2:109
# text = They are taught to obey signals, as, for instance, to run home upon a certain call or whistle being given.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	taught	teach	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	obey	obey	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
6	signals	signal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
8	as	as	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
10	for	for	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	instance	instance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
13	to	to	PART	TO	_	14	mark	_	_
14	run	run	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
15	home	home	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
16	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
17	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
18	certain	certain	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
19	call	call	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	_
20	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
21	whistle	whistle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	conj	_	_
22	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	23	aux:pass	_	_
23	given	give	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	14	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **teach** *speech: other* | present · passive |  | cattle |  |  |  | instance *parataxis* | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: subject=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 2 | **obey** | to-infinitive | cattle *not said here* | signals |  |  |  |  | vn abide\_by-93.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent signal=Theme |
| 3 | **run** | to-infinitive |  |  |  | a certain call or whistle |  | home *property* | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme upon call=Trajectory |
| 4 | **give** | gerund · passive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn break\_down-45.8 «NP V» |

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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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