---
title: It is not unlikely that the Xosa belief in a water-spirit which has… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: It is not unlikely that the Xosa belief in a water-spirit which has power to charm people and entice them into rivers to their destruction, may have originated in the fact of their having come from a country where these destructive animals were common, as the spirit and the reptile have the same nam
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, Story of the Bird That Made Milk., sentence 32

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It is not unlikely that the Xosa belief in a water-spirit which has power to charm people and entice them into rivers to their destruction, may have originated in the fact of their having come from a country where these destructive animals were common, as the spirit and the reptile have the same name.

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**Who acts:** water spirit, people, fact, destructive animals, spirit · **What happens:** not be, have, entice, originate, come, be · **To what, where:** power, people, rivers, Xosa belief, fact, country

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This is a sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Story of the Bird That Made Milk.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (water spirit, people, fact, destructive animals), 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:pg71335:27:32
# text = It is not unlikely that the Xosa belief in a water-spirit which has power to charm people and entice them into rivers to their destruction, may have originated in the fact of their having come from a country where these destructive animals were common, as the spirit and the reptile have the same name.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	expl	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	unlikely	unlikely	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	31	mark	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	Xosa	Xosa	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	_
8	belief	belief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	nsubj:pass	_	_
9	in	in	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
11	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	spirit	spirit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	_
14	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	15	nsubj	_	_
15	has	have	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	13	acl:relcl	_	_
16	power	power	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	_
17	to	to	PART	TO	_	19	mark	_	_
18	charm	charm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	compound	_	_
19	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	appos	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
21	entice	entice	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	15	conj	_	_
22	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	obj	_	_
23	into	into	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	rivers	river	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	obl	_	_
25	to	to	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	27	nmod:poss	_	_
27	destruction	destruction	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
29	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	31	aux	_	_
30	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	31	aux	_	_
31	originated	originate	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	advcl	_	_
32	in	in	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	fact	fact	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obl	_	_
35	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	37	mark	_	_
36	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	37	nsubj	_	_
37	having	have	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	34	acl	_	_
38	come	come	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	37	xcomp	_	_
39	from	from	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
40	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
41	country	country	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	obl	_	_
42	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	47	advmod	_	_
43	these	this	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	45	det	_	_
44	destructive	destructive	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	45	amod	_	_
45	animals	animal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	47	nsubj	_	_
46	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	47	cop	_	_
47	common	common	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	41	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	51	punct	_	_
49	as	as	ADP	IN	_	51	case	_	_
50	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	51	det	_	_
51	spirit	spirit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	obl	_	_
52	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	54	cc	_	_
53	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	54	det	_	_
54	reptile	reptile	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	51	conj	_	_
55	have	have	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	51	acl	_	_
56	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	58	det	_	_
57	same	same	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	58	amod	_	_
58	name	name	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	55	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
59	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **is** | present |  |  |  |  |  | unlikely *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **have** | present | a water spirit | power |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent power=Patient |
| 3 | **entice** | present | a water spirit *not said here* | people |  |  |  | into rivers *result*; to people's destruction | vn lure-59.3 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent they=Patient into river=Result |
| 4 | **originate** | may · perfect · passive |  | the Xosa belief in a water spirit |  | the fact |  |  | vn establish-55.5-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 5 | **have** | gerund | people | the fact *not said here* |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **come** | participle | the fact *not said here* |  |  | a country |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme from country=Initial\_Location |
| 7 | **is** | past | this destructive animals |  |  |  |  | as the spirit and the reptile; common *property* | tree rules |
| 8 | **have** | present | the spirit and the reptile *not said here* | the same name |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent name=Patient |
| 9 | **destroy** |  | people |  |  |  |  |  | nom destruction «act transitive»: poss=agent |

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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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