---
title: They believe in the existence of a Supreme Being, whom they term Qam… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: They believe in the existence of a Supreme Being, whom they term Qamata, and to whom they sometimes pray, though they never offer sacrifices to him. Who acts: corpses, existence. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Introductory Chapter Regarding the Kaffirs., with its dependency
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, Introductory Chapter Regarding the Kaffirs., sentence 140

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They believe in the existence of a Supreme Being, whom they term Qamata, and to whom they sometimes pray, though they never offer sacrifices to him.

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**Who acts:** corpses, existence · **What happens:** believe, term, pray, not offer · **To what, where:** existence, sacrifices, Qamata

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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 (corpses, existence), 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:pg71335:2:140
# text = They believe in the existence of a Supreme Being, whom they term Qamata, and to whom they sometimes pray, though they never offer sacrifices to him.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	believe	believe	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	in	in	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	existence	existence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	Supreme	Supreme	ADJ	NNP	Degree=Pos	5	nmod	_	_
9	Being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	8	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
11	whom	whom	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	13	nsubj	_	_
12	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
13	term	term	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	conj	_	_
14	Qamata	Qamata	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	13	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
17	to	to	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	whom	whom	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	2	conj	_	_
19	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
20	sometimes	sometimes	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	21	advmod	_	_
21	pray	pray	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	18	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
23	though	though	SCONJ	IN	_	26	mark	_	_
24	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
25	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	26	advmod	_	_
26	offer	offer	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
27	sacrifices	sacrifice	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	26	obj	_	_
28	to	to	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
29	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **believe** | present | corpses *= corpse* |  |  | the existence of a Supreme and term |  | whom *conj* | vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Experiencer |
| 2 | **term** |  | the existence of a Supreme and term |  |  |  |  | corpses *= corpse* *nsubj*; Qamata *appos* | tree rules |
| 3 | **pray** | present | corpses *= corpse* |  |  |  |  | sometimes *property* | vn long-32.2 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Pivot |
| 4 | **not** **offer** | present | corpses *= corpse* | sacrifices | Qamata |  |  |  | vn future\_having-13.3 «NP V NP PP.goal»: agent=Agent sacrifice=Theme to he=Goal |

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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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