---
title: He said to him: “That is not my tail you have hold of; it is a root… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: He said to him: “That is not my tail you have hold of; it is a root of the tree. Who acts: Lion, That, Jackal, tail. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Story of Lion and Little Jackal., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, Story of Lion and Little Jackal., sentence 23

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He said to him: “That is not my tail you have hold of; it is a root of the tree.

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**Who acts:** Lion, That, Jackal, tail · **What happens:** say, not be, have, be · **To what, where:** Jackal, tail, hold, root · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Story of Lion and Little Jackal.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Lion, That, Jackal, tail), 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:pg71335:25:23
# text = He said to him: “That is not my tail you have hold of; it is a root of the tree.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	to	to	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	11	punct	_	_
6	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	That	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	11	nsubj	_	_
8	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	cop	_	_
9	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	11	advmod	_	_
10	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	tail	tail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	ccomp	_	_
12	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
13	have	have	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	acl:relcl	_	_
14	hold	hold	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	_
15	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	fixed	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
17	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
18	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	20	cop	_	_
19	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	root	root	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	parataxis	_	_
21	of	of	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Lion |  | Jackal |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to he=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 2 | **not** **is a** *in a quote* | present | That | my tail |  |  |  | my *nmod:poss* | tree rules |
| 3 | **have** *in a quote* | present | Jackal | hold |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent hold=Patient |
| 4 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | tail | a root |  |  |  | of the tree | 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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