---
title: Lonci said: “I went to the river to drink; when I returned they were… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: Lonci said: “I went to the river to drink; when I returned they were gone.” Who acts: Lonci, others. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Story of the Bird That Made Milk. I., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, Story of the Bird That Made Milk. I., sentence 114

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Lonci said: “I went to the river to drink; when I returned they were gone.”

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**Who acts:** Lonci, others · **What happens:** say, go, drink, be · **To what, where:** river · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Story of the Bird That Made Milk. I.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Lonci, others), 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:pg71335:3:114
# text = Lonci said: “I went to the river to drink; when I returned they were gone.”
1	Lonci	Lonci	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	6	punct	_	_
4	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	ccomp	_	_
7	to	to	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
10	to	to	PART	TO	_	11	mark	_	_
11	drink	drink	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
13	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	15	advmod	_	_
14	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
15	returned	return	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	cop	_	_
16	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
17	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	cop	_	_
18	gone	gone	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	18	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	18	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Lonci |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **go** *in a quote* | past | Lonci |  |  | the river |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to river=Initial\_Location |
| 3 | **drink** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | Lonci *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **is** *in a quote* | past | others *= other* |  |  |  |  | gone *property* | tree rules |

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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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