---
title: The Kaffirs cannot define their belief concerning Qamata very minute… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: The Kaffirs cannot define their belief concerning Qamata very minutely, and they do not trouble themselves with thinking much about the matter. Who acts: Kaffirs, corpses. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Introductory Chapter Regarding the Kaffirs., with its dependency tree a
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, Introductory Chapter Regarding the Kaffirs., sentence 142

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The Kaffirs cannot define their belief concerning Qamata very minutely, and they do not trouble themselves with thinking much about the matter.

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**Who acts:** Kaffirs, corpses · **What happens:** not define, concern, not trouble, think, believe · **To what, where:** belief, corpses

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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 (Kaffirs, corpses), 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:pg71335:2:142
# text = The Kaffirs cannot define their belief concerning Qamata very minutely, and they do not trouble themselves with thinking much about the matter.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	Kaffirs	kaffir	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
3	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
5	define	define	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	belief	belief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
8	concerning	concern	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	9	case	_	_
9	Qamata	Qamata	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	_
10	very	very	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
11	minutely	minutely	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
14	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
15	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
16	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	17	advmod	_	_
17	trouble	trouble	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	parataxis	_	_
18	themselves	themselves	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	17	obj	_	_
19	with	with	SCONJ	IN	_	20	mark	_	_
20	thinking	think	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	17	advcl	_	_
21	much	much	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
22	about	about	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	matter	matter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **define** | can | the Kaffirs | corpses's belief |  |  |  | concern Qamata; minutely *property* | vn reflexive\_appearance-48.1.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent belief=Theme |
| 2 | **concern** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer |
| 3 | **not** **trouble** | present · do-support | corpses *= corpse* | corpses *= corpse* |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **think** *speech: other* | gerund | corpses *= corpse* *not said here* |  |  |  |  | about the matter | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V PP.topic»: agent=Agent about matter=Topic |
| 5 | **believe** |  | corpses *= corpse* |  |  |  |  | concern Qamata | nom belief «cognition transitive»: poss=agent concern=obl |

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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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