---
title: Before the advent of the white man, the Kaffirs knew nothing of lett… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: Before the advent of the white man, the Kaffirs knew nothing of letters or of any signs by which ideas could be expressed. Who acts: Kaffirs, signs. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Introductory Chapter Regarding the Kaffirs., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of ev
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, Introductory Chapter Regarding the Kaffirs., sentence 78

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Before the advent of the white man, the Kaffirs knew nothing of letters or of any signs by which ideas could be expressed.

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**Who acts:** Kaffirs, signs · **What happens:** know, express · **To what, where:** nothing, ideas

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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 (Kaffirs, signs), 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:pg71335:2:78
# text = Before the advent of the white man, the Kaffirs knew nothing of letters or of any signs by which ideas could be expressed.
1	Before	before	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	advent	advent	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	white	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	Kaffirs	Kaffir	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	11	nsubj	_	_
11	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
12	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	11	obj	_	_
13	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	letters	letter	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	nmod	_	_
15	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
16	of	of	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	18	det	_	_
18	signs	sign	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	conj	_	_
19	by	by	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
20	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	24	obl	_	_
21	ideas	idea	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	24	nsubj:pass	_	_
22	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	24	aux	_	_
23	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	24	aux:pass	_	_
24	expressed	express	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	18	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **know** | past | the Kaffirs | nothing of letters or any signs |  |  | before the advent of the white man |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer nothing=Stimulus |
| 2 | **express** | could · passive | any signs | ideas |  |  |  |  | vn reflexive\_appearance-48.1.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme |

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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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