---
title: The first wives of a chief are usually the daughters of some of his… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: The first wives of a chief are usually the daughters of some of his father’s principal retainers; but as he increases in power his alliance is courted by great families, and thus it generally happens that the last of his wives is the highest in rank. Who acts: first wives, manner, great families, it
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, Introductory Chapter Regarding the Kaffirs., sentence 36

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The first wives of a chief are usually the daughters of some of his father’s principal retainers; but as he increases in power his alliance is courted by great families, and thus it generally happens that the last of his wives is the highest in rank.

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**Who acts:** first wives, manner, great families, it · **What happens:** be, increase, court, happen, ally · **To what, where:** daughters, power, alliance, rank

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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 (first wives, manner, great families, it), 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:pg71335:2:36
# text = The first wives of a chief are usually the daughters of some of his father’s principal retainers; but as he increases in power his alliance is courted by great families, and thus it generally happens that the last of his wives is the highest in rank.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	first	first	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	3	amod	_	_
3	wives	wife	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	nsubj	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	chief	chief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
7	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	cop	_	_
8	usually	usually	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	daughters	daughter	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	10	nmod	_	_
13	of	of	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
14	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	15	nmod:poss	_	_
15	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	’s	's	PART	POS	_	15	case	_	_
17	principal	principal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	retainers	retainer	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	29	punct	_	_
20	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
21	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
22	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
23	increases	increase	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	29	advcl	_	_
24	in	in	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
25	power	power	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	_
26	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	27	nmod:poss	_	_
27	alliance	alliance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	nsubj:pass	_	_
28	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	29	aux:pass	_	_
29	courted	court	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	47	amod	_	_
30	by	by	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	32	amod	_	_
32	families	family	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
34	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	38	cc	_	_
35	thus	thus	ADV	RB	_	38	advmod	_	_
36	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	38	nsubj	_	_
37	generally	generally	ADV	RB	_	38	advmod	_	_
38	happens	happen	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	29	advcl	_	_
39	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	41	mark	_	_
40	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
41	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	38	xcomp	_	_
42	of	of	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
43	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	44	nmod:poss	_	_
44	wives	wife	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	41	obl	_	_
45	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	47	cop	_	_
46	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	47	det	_	_
47	highest	high	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	10	parataxis	_	_
48	in	in	ADP	IN	_	49	case	_	_
49	rank	rank	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | the first wives of a chief | the daughters |  |  |  | of some of manner's father's principal retainers; usually *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **increase** | present | manner |  |  | power |  |  | vn caused\_calibratable\_cos-45.6.2-1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient |
| 3 | **court** | present · passive | great families | manner's alliance |  |  |  |  | vn marry-36.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Co-Agent |
| 4 | **happen** | present | it |  |  |  |  | generally, last, thus *property* | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **is** | present |  |  |  | rank |  | high *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **ally** |  | manner |  |  |  |  |  | nom alliance «state transitive»: poss=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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