---
title: Hili, or Tikoloshe, is, according to the belief of the Kaffirs, a mi… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: Hili, or Tikoloshe, is, according to the belief of the Kaffirs, a mischievous being who usually lives in the water, but who goes about as a human dwarf playing tricks upon people. Who acts: Hili, human dwarf. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Proverbs and Figurative Expression
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, Proverbs and Figurative Expressions., sentence 58

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Hili, or Tikoloshe, is, according to the belief of the Kaffirs, a mischievous being who usually lives in the water, but who goes about as a human dwarf playing tricks upon people.

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**Who acts:** Hili, human dwarf · **What happens:** be, accord, live, go about, play, believe · **To what, where:** water, tricks, Kaffirs

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This is a sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Proverbs and Figurative Expressions.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Hili, human dwarf), 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:pg71335:26:58
# text = Hili, or Tikoloshe, is, according to the belief of the Kaffirs, a mischievous being who usually lives in the water, but who goes about as a human dwarf playing tricks upon people.
1	Hili	Hili	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
3	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
4	Tikoloshe	Tikoloshe	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	1	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
6	is	be	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
8	according	accord	VERB	VBG	ExtPos=ADP|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	11	case	_	_
9	to	to	ADP	IN	_	8	fixed	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	belief	belief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
12	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	Kaffirs	Kaffir	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	11	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
16	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	mischievous	mischievous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
18	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	17	advcl	_	_
19	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	21	nsubj	_	_
20	usually	usually	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
21	lives	live	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	18	parataxis	_	_
22	in	in	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
26	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
27	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	28	nsubj	_	_
28	goes	go	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	21	conj	_	_
29	about	about	ADV	RB	_	33	advmod	_	_
30	as	as	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
31	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
32	human	human	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	33	amod	_	_
33	dwarf	dwarf	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	_
34	playing	play	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	33	acl	_	_
35	tricks	trick	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	34	obj	_	_
36	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
37	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	34	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be** | present | Hili or Tikoloshe |  |  |  |  | the belief of the Kaffirs *obl* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **accord** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn future\_having-13.3 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **live** | present |  |  |  | the water |  | who *nsubj*; usually *property* | vn lodge-46 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in water=Location |
| 4 | **go about** | present |  |  |  |  |  | as a human dwarf; who *nsubj* | vn confront-98 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **play** | gerund | a human dwarf *not said here* | tricks |  |  |  | upon people | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent trick=Theme |
| 6 | **believe** |  |  | the Kaffirs |  |  |  |  | nom belief «cognition transitive»: of=patient |

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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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