---
title: The hair of the tail was needed, the doctor had made a charm of it a… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: The hair of the tail was needed, the doctor had made a charm of it and hung it round the woman’s neck, and she had thereafter given birth to a son. Who acts: woman. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of Tangalimlibo., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of eve
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, The Story of Tangalimlibo., sentence 36

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The hair of the tail was needed, the doctor had made a charm of it and hung it round the woman’s neck, and she had thereafter given birth to a son.

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**Who acts:** woman · **What happens:** need, make, hang, give · **To what, where:** hair, doctor, charm, birth, son

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This is a sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of Tangalimlibo.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (woman), 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:pg71335:29:36
# text = The hair of the tail was needed, the doctor had made a charm of it and hung it round the woman’s neck, and she had thereafter given birth to a son.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	hair	hair	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	tail	tail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
6	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux:pass	_	_
7	needed	need	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	doctor	doctor	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj:pass	_	_
11	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
12	made	make	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	parataxis	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	charm	charm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	_
15	of	of	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nmod	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
18	hung	hang	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	conj	_	_
19	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	obj	_	_
20	round	round	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	’s	's	PART	POS	_	22	case	_	_
24	neck	neck	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
27	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
28	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	30	aux	_	_
29	thereafter	thereafter	ADV	RB	_	30	advmod	_	_
30	given	give	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	7	conj	_	_
31	birth	birth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obj	_	_
32	to	to	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
33	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **need** | past · passive |  | the hair of the tail |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: subject=Theme |
| 2 | **make** | past · perfect · passive |  | the doctor |  |  |  | a charm of hair *obj* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP NP»: subject=Beneficiary charm=Product |
| 3 | **hang** | past |  | charm |  |  |  | round the woman's neck | vn poison-42.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Patient |
| 4 | **give** | past · perfect | woman | birth | a son |  |  | thereafter *property* | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent birth=Theme to son=Recipient |

<!-- .note -->
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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