---
title: The person of a chief is inviolable, and an indignity offered to one… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: The person of a chief is inviolable, and an indignity offered to one of them is considered a crime of the gravest nature. Who acts: person. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Introductory Chapter Regarding the Kaffirs., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every claus
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, Introductory Chapter Regarding the Kaffirs., sentence 23

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The person of a chief is inviolable, and an indignity offered to one of them is considered a crime of the gravest nature.

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**Who acts:** person · **What happens:** be, offer, consider, incriminate · **To what, where:** indignity, one, gravest nature

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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 (person), 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:pg71335:2:23
# text = The person of a chief is inviolable, and an indignity offered to one of them is considered a crime of the gravest nature.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	person	person	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	chief	chief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
6	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
7	inviolable	inviolable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
10	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	indignity	indignity	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nsubj:pass	_	_
12	offered	offer	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	11	acl	_	_
13	to	to	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	12	obl	_	_
15	of	of	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nmod	_	_
17	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	18	aux:pass	_	_
18	considered	consider	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	advcl	_	_
19	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	crime	crime	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obj	_	_
21	of	of	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
23	gravest	grave	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	24	amod	_	_
24	nature	nature	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | the person of a chief |  |  |  |  | inviolable *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **offer** | participle |  | a indignity *not said here* | one of roots |  |  |  | vn future\_having-13.3 «NP V NP PP.goal»: agent=Agent to one=Goal |
| 3 | **consider** | present · passive |  | a indignity |  |  |  | a crime of the gravest nature *obj* | vn consider-29.9-1-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: subject=Theme crime=Attribute |
| 4 | **incriminate** |  |  | the gravest nature |  |  |  |  | nom crime «act transitive»: of=patient |

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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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