---
title: When the spirits become hungry, they send a plague or disaster, unti… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: When the spirits become hungry, they send a plague or disaster, until sacrifices are offered and their hunger is appeased. Who acts: spirits. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Introductory Chapter Regarding the Kaffirs., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every cla
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, Introductory Chapter Regarding the Kaffirs., sentence 132

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When the spirits become hungry, they send a plague or disaster, until sacrifices are offered and their hunger is appeased.

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**Who acts:** spirits · **What happens:** become, send, offer, appease, hunger · **To what, where:** plague, sacrifices, hunger

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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 (spirits), 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:pg71335:2:132
# text = When the spirits become hungry, they send a plague or disaster, until sacrifices are offered and their hunger is appeased.
1	When	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	4	mark	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	spirits	spirit	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	become	become	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	advcl	_	_
5	hungry	hungry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
7	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
8	send	send	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	plague	plague	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
11	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
12	disaster	disaster	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
14	until	until	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
15	sacrifices	sacrifice	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	nsubj:pass	_	_
16	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	17	aux:pass	_	_
17	offered	offer	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	conj	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
19	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	20	nmod:poss	_	_
20	hunger	hunger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nsubj:pass	_	_
21	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	22	aux:pass	_	_
22	appeased	appease	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	17	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **become** | present | the spirits |  |  |  |  | hungry *property* | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient |
| 2 | **send** | present | spirits *= spirit* | a plague or disaster |  |  |  |  | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent plague=Theme |
| 3 | **offer** | present · passive |  | sacrifices |  |  |  |  | vn future\_having-13.3 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: subject=Theme |
| 4 | **appease** | present · passive |  | spirits's hunger |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Experiencer |
| 5 | **hunger** |  | spirits *= spirit* |  |  |  |  |  | nom hunger «state intransitive»: poss=agent |

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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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