---
title: Ma is the word used in addressing mother, any wife of father, or the… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: Ma is the word used in addressing mother, any wife of father, or the sister of any of these. Who acts: Ma. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of Demane and Demazana., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, The Story of Demane and Demazana., sentence 11

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Ma is the word used in addressing mother, any wife of father, or the sister of any of these.

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**Who acts:** Ma · **What happens:** be, use, address · **To what, where:** word

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This is a sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of Demane and Demazana.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Ma), 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:pg71335:34:11
# text = Ma is the word used in addressing mother, any wife of father, or the sister of any of these.
1	Ma	ma	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	used	use	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	acl	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	addressing	address	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	8	amod	_	_
8	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
10	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	11	det	_	_
11	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	conj	_	_
12	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
15	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	sister	sister	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	conj	_	_
18	of	of	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	17	nmod	_	_
20	of	of	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	these	this	PRON	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	19	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | Ma | the word and any wife of father or the sister of any of these |  |  |  | any wife of father *conj*; the sister of any of these *conj* | tree rules |
| 2 | **use** | participle |  | the word and any wife of father or the sister of any of these *not said here* |  |  |  | in addressing mother | vn eat-39.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **address** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn illustrate-25.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

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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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