---
title: His mother replied: “Perhaps it has been spilt by your father. — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: His mother replied: “Perhaps it has been spilt by your father. Who acts: mother, father. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Another Story of Kenkebe., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, Another Story of Kenkebe., sentence 15

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His mother replied: “Perhaps it has been spilt by your father.

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**Who acts:** mother, father · **What happens:** reply, spilt · **To what, where:** food · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Another Story of Kenkebe.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (mother, father), 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:pg71335:20:15
# text = His mother replied: “Perhaps it has been spilt by your father.
1	His	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	replied	reply	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	3	punct	_	_
5	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	Perhaps	perhaps	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
7	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj:pass	_	_
8	has	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
9	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	10	aux:pass	_	_
10	spilt	spilt	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	conj	_	_
11	by	by	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	13	nmod:poss	_	_
13	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **reply** *speech: assert* | past | Kenkebe's mother |  |  |  |  |  | vn respond-113 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **spilt** *in a quote* | present · perfect · passive | your father | food |  |  |  | perhaps *property* | tree rules |

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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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