---
title: Marriage proposals may come from the father or guardian of the young… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: Marriage proposals may come from the father or guardian of the young woman, or they may first be made by the man himself or the relatives of the man who wishes to take a wife. Who acts: Marriage proposals, man. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of Five Heads., with i
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, The Story of Five Heads., sentence 25

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Marriage proposals may come from the father or guardian of the young woman, or they may first be made by the man himself or the relatives of the man who wishes to take a wife.

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**Who acts:** Marriage proposals, man · **What happens:** come, make, wish, take · **To what, where:** proposals, wife · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of Five Heads.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Marriage proposals, man), 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:pg71335:28:25
# text = Marriage proposals may come from the father or guardian of the young woman, or they may first be made by the man himself or the relatives of the man who wishes to take a wife.
1	Marriage	marriage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	compound	_	_
2	proposals	proposal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
3	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	come	come	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	from	from	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
8	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	guardian	guardian	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	conj	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
12	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
15	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
16	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
17	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	20	aux	_	_
18	first	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	20	advmod	_	_
19	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	aux:pass	_	_
20	made	make	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	parataxis	_	_
21	by	by	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	_
24	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	23	nmod	_	_
25	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	relatives	relative	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	conj	_	_
28	of	of	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	nmod	_	_
31	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	32	nsubj	_	_
32	wishes	wish	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	30	acl:relcl	_	_
33	to	to	PART	TO	_	34	mark	_	_
34	take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	32	ccomp	_	_
35	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come** | may | Marriage proposals |  |  |  |  | from the father or guardian of the young woman | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme from father=Initial\_Location |
| 2 | **make** | may · passive | the man  guardian or the relatives of the man | proposals *= proposal* |  |  |  | first *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Product |
| 3 | **wish** | present | the man |  |  |  |  |  | vn wish-62 «NP V for NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 4 | **take** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive |  |  | a wife |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP ADVP»: agent=Instrument wife=Destination |

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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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