---
title: Their language is rich in words, and is musical in expression, owing… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: Their language is rich in words, and is musical in expression, owing to the great number of vowels used. Who acts: language. 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 55

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Their language is rich in words, and is musical in expression, owing to the great number of vowels used.

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**Who acts:** language · **What happens:** be, owe, use · **To what, where:** words, expression, great number, vowels

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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 (language), 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:pg71335:2:55
# text = Their language is rich in words, and is musical in expression, owing to the great number of vowels used.
1	Their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	language	language	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	rich	rich	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
9	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	cop	_	_
10	musical	musical	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	conj	_	_
11	in	in	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	expression	expression	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
14	owing	owe	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	10	advcl	_	_
15	to	to	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
17	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	number	number	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	_
19	of	of	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
20	vowels	vowel	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	nmod	_	_
21	used	use	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	20	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | women's language |  |  | words |  | rich *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **is** | present | women's language *not said here* |  |  | expression |  | musical *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **owe** | gerund | women's language *not said here* |  |  |  |  | to the great number of vowels *goal* | vn future\_having-13.3 «NP V NP PP.goal»: agent=Agent to number=Goal |
| 4 | **use** | participle |  | vowels *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1 «NP V»: agent=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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