---
title: If the proposal comes from the girl’s father, he sends an assagai, w… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: If the proposal comes from the girl’s father, he sends an assagai, which is accepted if the suit is agreeable, or returned if it is not. Who acts: proposal, messenger, suit, assagai. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of Five Heads., with its dependency tree and the p
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, The Story of Five Heads., sentence 28

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If the proposal comes from the girl’s father, he sends an assagai, which is accepted if the suit is agreeable, or returned if it is not.

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**Who acts:** proposal, messenger, suit, assagai · **What happens:** come, send, accept, be, return, not be · **To what, where:** assagai

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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 (proposal, messenger, suit, assagai), 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:pg71335:28:28
# text = If the proposal comes from the girl’s father, he sends an assagai, which is accepted if the suit is agreeable, or returned if it is not.
1	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	proposal	proposal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	comes	come	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	12	advcl	_	_
5	from	from	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	girl	girl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	’s	's	PART	POS	_	7	case	_	_
9	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
11	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	sends	send	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
13	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	assagai	assagai	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
16	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	18	nsubj:pass	_	_
17	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	18	aux:pass	_	_
18	accepted	accept	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	14	acl:relcl	_	_
19	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	suit	suit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	nsubj	_	_
22	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	23	cop	_	_
23	agreeable	agreeable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
25	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
26	returned	return	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	12	conj	_	_
27	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	29	mark	_	_
28	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
29	is	be	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	26	advcl	_	_
30	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	29	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	12	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come** *a condition, not said to happen* | present | the proposal |  |  |  |  | from the girl's father | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme from father=Initial\_Location |
| 2 | **send** | present | messenger | a assagai |  |  |  |  | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent assagai=Theme |
| 3 | **accept** | present · passive |  | a assagai |  |  |  |  | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 4 | **is** *a condition, not said to happen* | present | the suit |  |  |  |  | agreeable *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **return** | participle | messenger *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **not** **be** *a condition, not said to happen* | present | assagai |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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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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