---
title: The bird said: “If I am your father’s bird, put me by the door, then… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: The bird said: “If I am your father’s bird, put me by the door, then I will make milk.” Who acts: bird. 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 83

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The bird said: “If I am your father’s bird, put me by the door, then I will make milk.”

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**Who acts:** bird · **What happens:** say, be, put, make · **To what, where:** bird, milk · **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 (bird), 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:pg71335:3:83
# text = The bird said: “If I am your father’s bird, put me by the door, then I will make milk.”
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	14	punct	_	_
5	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	14	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
7	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
8	am	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	cop	_	_
9	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	10	nmod:poss	_	_
10	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	’s	's	PART	POS	_	10	case	_	_
12	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
14	put	put	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	ccomp	_	_
15	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	14	obj	_	_
16	by	by	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	door	door	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
20	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	23	advmod	_	_
21	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
22	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	23	aux	_	_
23	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	advcl	_	_
24	milk	milk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	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 | the bird |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **is** *in a quote* | present | the bird *= bird* |  |  |  |  | 's your father; your *nmod:poss* | tree rules |
| 3 | **put** *in a quote* | infinitive |  | the bird *= bird* |  |  |  | by the door; father bird *advcl* | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent i=Theme by door=Destination |
| 4 | **make** *in a quote* | future | the bird *= bird* | milk |  |  | then |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent milk=Product |

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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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