---
title: The mbulu is a fabulous creature, firmly believed in by little folks. — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: The mbulu is a fabulous creature, firmly believed in by little folks. Who acts: mbulu. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Girl and the Mbulu., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, The Girl and the Mbulu., sentence 1

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The mbulu is a fabulous creature, firmly believed in by little folks.

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**Who acts:** mbulu · **What happens:** be, believe in · **To what, where:** fabulous creature

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This is a sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Girl and the Mbulu.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (mbulu), 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:pg71335:36:1
# text = The mbulu is a fabulous creature, firmly believed in by little folks.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	mbulu	mbulu	X	FW	Foreign=Yes	6	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	fabulous	fabulous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	creature	creature	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
8	firmly	firmly	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
9	believed	believe	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	acl	_	_
10	in	in	ADP	RP	_	9	compound:prt	_	_
11	by	by	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	folks	folk	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | the mbulu | a fabulous creature |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **believe in** | participle |  | a fabulous creature *not said here* |  |  |  | by little folks; firmly *property* | vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Experiencer |

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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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