---
title: In this case, if the plaintiff had been so nearly related to defenda… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: In this case, if the plaintiff had been so nearly related to defendant’s wife as to have participated in the benefit of the cattle given by her husband for her, he could not have justified his claim under Kaffir law; but as he was very distantly connected, he got judgment. Who acts: plaintiff, heife
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, The Story of Tangalimlibo., sentence 38

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In this case, if the plaintiff had been so nearly related to defendant’s wife as to have participated in the benefit of the cattle given by her husband for her, he could not have justified his claim under Kaffir law; but as he was very distantly connected, he got judgment.

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**Who acts:** plaintiff, heifer · **What happens:** be, participate, give, not justify, connect, get · **To what, where:** case, cattle, claim, heifer, judgment, Kaffir law

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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 (plaintiff, heifer), 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:pg71335:29:38
# text = In this case, if the plaintiff had been so nearly related to defendant’s wife as to have participated in the benefit of the cattle given by her husband for her, he could not have justified his claim under Kaffir law; but as he was very distantly connected, he got judgment.
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	3	det	_	_
3	case	case	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
5	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	plaintiff	plaintiff	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
8	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
9	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	12	cop	_	_
10	so	so	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
11	nearly	nearly	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
12	related	related	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	acl	_	_
13	to	to	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
14	defendant	defendant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	’s	's	PART	POS	_	14	case	_	_
16	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	_
17	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	20	mark	_	_
18	to	to	PART	TO	_	20	mark	_	_
19	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	aux	_	_
20	participated	participate	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	16	acl	_	_
21	in	in	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	benefit	benefit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	_
24	of	of	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	cattle	cattle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	nmod	_	_
27	given	give	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	26	acl	_	_
28	by	by	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	30	nmod:poss	_	_
30	husband	husband	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	_
31	for	for	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
32	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
34	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	38	nsubj	_	_
35	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	38	aux	_	_
36	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	38	advmod	_	_
37	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	38	aux	_	_
38	justified	justify	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
39	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	40	nmod:poss	_	_
40	claim	claim	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	obj	_	_
41	under	under	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
42	Kaffir	Kaffir	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	43	compound	_	_
43	law	law	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	54	punct	_	_
45	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	54	cc	_	_
46	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	51	mark	_	_
47	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	51	nsubj:pass	_	_
48	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	51	aux:pass	_	_
49	very	very	ADV	RB	_	50	advmod	_	_
50	distantly	distantly	ADV	RB	_	51	advmod	_	_
51	connected	connect	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	54	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	51	punct	_	_
53	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	54	nsubj	_	_
54	got	get	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	38	conj	_	_
55	judgment	judgment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	54	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
56	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	38	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past · perfect | the plaintiff | this case *not said here* |  |  |  | to defendant's wife; nearly, related *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **participate** | to-infinitive · perfect | the plaintiff *not said here* |  |  |  |  | in the benefit of the cattle | vn cooperate-73.1-2 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent in benefit=Theme |
| 3 | **give** | participle |  | the cattle *not said here* |  |  |  | by wife's husband; for wife | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP PP.asset»: agent=Agent for she=Asset |
| 4 | **not** **justify** *speech: other* | could · perfect | heifer | heifer's claim |  | this case |  | under Kaffir law | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent claim=Topic |
| 5 | **connect** | past · passive |  | heifer |  |  |  | distantly *property* | vn mix-22.1-2-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 6 | **get** | past | heifer | judgment |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer judgment=Stimulus |
| 7 | **claim** |  | heifer |  |  | Kaffir law |  |  | nom claim «communication transitive»: poss=agent under=place |

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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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- ↑ back to [The Story of Tangalimlibo.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg71335/29/)