---
title: The owner will say that it is perhaps the spirit of one of his ances… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: The owner will say that it is perhaps the spirit of one of his ancestors who has come to visit him in this form. Who acts: owner, ancestors. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Introductory Chapter Regarding the Kaffirs., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clau
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, Introductory Chapter Regarding the Kaffirs., sentence 196

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The owner will say that it is perhaps the spirit of one of his ancestors who has come to visit him in this form.

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**Who acts:** owner, ancestors · **What happens:** say, be, come, visit · **To what, where:** spirit, Kaffir, form · **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 (owner, ancestors), 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:pg71335:2:196
# text = The owner will say that it is perhaps the spirit of one of his ancestors who has come to visit him in this form.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	owner	owner	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	say	say	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
6	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
7	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	cop	_	_
8	perhaps	perhaps	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	spirit	spirit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	ccomp	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	10	nmod	_	_
13	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	15	nmod:poss	_	_
15	ancestors	ancestor	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	nmod	_	_
16	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	18	nsubj	_	_
17	has	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
18	come	come	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	15	acl:relcl	_	_
19	to	to	PART	TO	_	20	mark	_	_
20	visit	visit	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	xcomp	_	_
21	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	obj	_	_
22	in	in	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	24	det	_	_
24	form	form	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | future | the owner |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is a** | present | owner | the spirit |  |  |  | of one of Kaffir's ancestors; perhaps *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **come** | present · perfect | Kaffir's ancestors |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **visit** | to-infinitive | Kaffir's ancestors *not said here* | Kaffir |  | this form |  |  | vn meet-36.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Co-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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