---
title: The Umkomanzi cannot be crossed, It is crossed by swallows Whose win… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: The Umkomanzi cannot be crossed, It is crossed by swallows Whose wings are long.” Who acts: swallows, wings. 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 95

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The Umkomanzi cannot be crossed, It is crossed by swallows Whose wings are long.”

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**Who acts:** swallows, wings · **What happens:** not cross, cross, be · **To what, where:** Umkomanzi

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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 (swallows, wings), 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:pg71335:3:95
# text = The Umkomanzi cannot be crossed, It is crossed by swallows Whose wings are long.”
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	Umkomanzi	Umkomanzi	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	6	advmod	_	_
5	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	aux:pass	_	_
6	crossed	cross	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
8	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj:pass	_	_
9	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	aux:pass	_	_
10	crossed	cross	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	conj	_	_
11	by	by	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	swallows	swallow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obl	_	_
13	Whose	whose	PRON	WP$	Poss=Yes|PronType=Rel	14	nmod:poss	_	_
14	wings	wing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	nsubj	_	_
15	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	16	cop	_	_
16	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **cross** | can · passive |  | the Umkomanzi |  |  |  |  | vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 2 | **cross** | present · passive | swallows | Umkomanzi |  |  |  |  | vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Patient |
| 3 | **is** | present | wings |  |  |  |  | long *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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