---
title: It is not poverty of language, for they have words to express shades… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: It is not poverty of language, for they have words to express shades of relationship where we have none, but a difference of ideas, that causes them to use the same word for father and paternal uncle, for brother and cousin, etc. Bawo is the word used in addressing father, father’s brother, or fathe
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, The Story of Demane and Demazana., sentence 6

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It is not poverty of language, for they have words to express shades of relationship where we have none, but a difference of ideas, that causes them to use the same word for father and paternal uncle, for brother and cousin, etc. Bawo is the word used in addressing father, father’s brother, or father’s half-brother.

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**Who acts:** point, cousins, words, we, that, etc. · **What happens:** not be, have, express, cause, use, be · **To what, where:** poverty, words, shades, none, cousins, same 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 (point, cousins, words, we), 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:pg71335:34:6
# text = It is not poverty of language, for they have words to express shades of relationship where we have none, but a difference of ideas, that causes them to use the same word for father and paternal uncle, for brother and cousin, etc. Bawo is the word used in addressing father, father’s brother, or father’s half-brother.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	poverty	poverty	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	language	language	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
8	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
9	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	have	have	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
11	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obj	_	_
12	to	to	PART	TO	_	13	mark	_	_
13	express	express	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	xcomp	_	_
14	shades	shade	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	obj	_	_
15	of	of	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	relationship	relationship	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nmod	_	_
17	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	19	advmod	_	_
18	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
19	have	have	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	16	acl:relcl	_	_
20	none	none	PRON	NN	PronType=Neg	19	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
22	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
23	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	difference	difference	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	conj	_	_
25	of	of	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
26	ideas	idea	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	24	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
28	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	29	nsubj	_	_
29	causes	cause	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	24	conj	_	_
30	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	obj	_	_
31	to	to	PART	TO	_	32	mark	_	_
32	use	use	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	29	xcomp	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
34	same	same	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	35	amod	_	_
35	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obj	_	_
36	for	for	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
37	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	nmod	_	_
38	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	40	cc	_	_
39	paternal	paternal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	40	amod	_	_
40	uncle	uncle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	43	punct	_	_
42	for	for	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
43	brother	brother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obl	_	_
44	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	45	cc	_	_
45	cousin	cousin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	51	punct	_	_
47	etc.	etc.	NOUN	FW	Abbr=Yes|Number=Plur	51	nsubj	_	_
48	Bawo	Bawo	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	51	nsubj	_	_
49	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	51	cop	_	_
50	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	51	det	_	_
51	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	conj	_	_
52	used	use	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	51	acl	_	_
53	in	in	SCONJ	IN	_	54	mark	_	_
54	addressing	address	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	52	advcl	_	_
55	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	54	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
56	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	59	punct	_	_
57	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	59	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
58	’s	's	PART	POS	_	57	case	_	_
59	brother	brother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	55	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
60	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	66	punct	_	_
61	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	66	cc	_	_
62	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	66	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
63	’s	's	PART	POS	_	62	case	_	_
64	half	half	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing|NumForm=Word|NumType=Frac	66	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
65	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	64	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
66	brother	brother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	55	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
67	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **is a** | present | point | poverty but a difference of ideas and the word |  |  |  | of language; a difference of ideas *conj* | tree rules |
| 2 | **have** | present | cousins *= cousin* | words |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **express** | to-infinitive | words *not said here* | shades of relationship |  |  |  |  | vn reflexive\_appearance-48.1.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent shade=Theme |
| 4 | **have** | present | we | none |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent none=Patient |
| 5 | **cause** | present | that | cousins *= cousin* |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **use** | to-infinitive | cousins *= cousin* *not said here* | the same word |  |  |  | for father and paternal uncle; for brother and cousin | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP PP.predicate»: agent=Agent word=Theme for brother=Eventuality |
| 7 | **is a** | present | etc. | the word |  |  |  | Bawo *nsubj* | tree rules |
| 8 | **use** | participle |  | the word *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 9 | **address** | gerund |  |  | father and father's brother or father's half brother |  |  |  | vn illustrate-25.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent father=Destination |
| 10 | **shade** |  |  | relationship |  |  |  |  | nom shade «state transitive»: of=patient |

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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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