---
title: “Was he the first man, the father of the nations, the one whom some… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: “Was he the first man, the father of the nations, the one whom some of the old Fingoes call Nkulunkulu?” Who acts: portion, some. 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 147

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“Was he the first man, the father of the nations, the one whom some of the old Fingoes call Nkulunkulu?”

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**Who acts:** portion, some · **What happens:** be, call · **To what, where:** first man, one · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (portion, some), 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:pg71335:2:147
# text = “Was he the first man, the father of the nations, the one whom some of the old Fingoes call Nkulunkulu?”
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
3	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	first	first	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	6	amod	_	_
6	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	conj	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	nations	nation	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	appos	_	_
16	whom	whom	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	22	obj	_	_
17	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	22	nsubj	_	_
18	of	of	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
20	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	amod	_	_
21	Fingoes	fingoe	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	nmod	_	_
22	call	call	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	acl:relcl	_	_
23	Nkulunkulu	Nkulunkulu	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	22	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** *in a quote* | past | portion | the first man and the father of the nations |  |  |  | the father of the nations *conj*; the one *appos* | tree rules |
| 2 | **call** *in a quote* | infinitive | some of the old Fingoes | the one |  |  |  | Nkulunkulu *obj* | vn dub-29.3.2 «NP V NP NP»: agent=Agent whom=Theme nkulunkulu=Result |

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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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