---
title: The Kaffirs are warlike in disposition and brave in the field, thoug… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: The Kaffirs are warlike in disposition and brave in the field, though when fighting with Europeans they seldom venture upon a pitched battle, owing to their dread of firearms. Who acts: Kaffirs, Europeans. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Introductory Chapter Regarding the Ka
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, Introductory Chapter Regarding the Kaffirs., sentence 95

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The Kaffirs are warlike in disposition and brave in the field, though when fighting with Europeans they seldom venture upon a pitched battle, owing to their dread of firearms.

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**Who acts:** Kaffirs, Europeans · **What happens:** be, fight, venture, pitch, owe, dread · **To what, where:** disposition, field, dread, firearms

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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, Europeans), 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:pg71335:2:95
# text = The Kaffirs are warlike in disposition and brave in the field, though when fighting with Europeans they seldom venture upon a pitched battle, owing to their dread of firearms.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	Kaffirs	kaffir	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
3	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	warlike	warlike	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	disposition	disposition	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	brave	brave	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	conj	_	_
9	in	in	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	field	field	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
13	though	though	SCONJ	IN	_	20	mark	_	_
14	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	15	mark	_	_
15	fighting	fight	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	20	advcl	_	_
16	with	with	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	Europeans	European	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	15	obl	_	_
18	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
19	seldom	seldom	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
20	venture	venture	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
21	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
22	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
23	pitched	pitch	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	24	amod	_	_
24	battle	battle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
26	owing	owe	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	20	advcl	_	_
27	to	to	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	29	nmod:poss	_	_
29	dread	dread	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	_
30	of	of	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
31	firearms	firearm	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | the Kaffirs |  |  | disposition |  | warlike *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **be** |  | the Kaffirs *not said here* |  |  | the field |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **fight** | gerund | Europeans *= european* *not said here* |  |  |  |  | with Europeans | vn battle-36.4-1 «NP V PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent with european=Co-Agent |
| 4 | **venture** | present | Europeans *= european* |  |  |  |  | upon a pitched battle; seldom *property* | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **pitch** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn throw-17.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **owe** | gerund | Europeans *= european* *not said here* |  |  |  |  | to Europeans's dread of firearms *goal* | vn future\_having-13.3 «NP V NP PP.goal»: agent=Agent to dread=Goal |
| 7 | **dread** |  | Europeans *= european* | firearms |  |  |  |  | nom dread «feeling transitive»: poss=agent of=patient |

<!-- .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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