---
title: They know of no other periods in reckoning time than the day and the… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: They know of no other periods in reckoning time than the day and the lunar month, and can describe events only as happening before or after some remarkable occurrence, such as the death of a chief. Who acts: details, chief. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Introductory Chapte
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, Introductory Chapter Regarding the Kaffirs., sentence 82

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They know of no other periods in reckoning time than the day and the lunar month, and can describe events only as happening before or after some remarkable occurrence, such as the death of a chief.

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**Who acts:** details, chief · **What happens:** know, describe, happen, die · **To what, where:** events, remarkable occurrence

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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 (details, chief), 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:pg71335:2:82
# text = They know of no other periods in reckoning time than the day and the lunar month, and can describe events only as happening before or after some remarkable occurrence, such as the death of a chief.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	know	know	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
4	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	6	det	_	_
5	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	periods	period	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	reckoning	reckoning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	compound	_	_
9	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
10	than	than	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
15	lunar	lunar	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	month	month	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
19	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	20	aux	_	_
20	describe	describe	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
21	events	event	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	obj	_	_
22	only	only	ADV	RB	_	24	advmod	_	_
23	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	24	mark	_	_
24	happening	happen	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	20	advcl	_	_
25	before	before	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
26	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
27	after	after	ADP	IN	_	25	conj	_	_
28	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	30	det	_	_
29	remarkable	remarkable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	30	amod	_	_
30	occurrence	occurrence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
32	such	such	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|ExtPos=ADP	35	case	_	_
33	as	as	ADP	IN	_	32	fixed	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	death	death	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	appos	_	_
36	of	of	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
37	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
38	chief	chief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **know** | present | details *= detail* |  |  |  |  | of no other periods in reckoning time than the day and the lunar month | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V PP.stimulus»: agent=Experiencer of period=Stimulus |
| 2 | **describe** | can |  | events |  |  |  |  | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent event=Theme |
| 3 | **happen** | gerund |  |  |  | some remarkable occurrence |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme before occurrence=Location |
| 4 | **die** |  | a chief |  |  |  |  |  | nom death «event intransitive»: of=agent |

<!-- .note -->
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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