---
title: Kaffir women grind, or rather bruise, millet by putting it on a flat… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: Kaffir women grind, or rather bruise, millet by putting it on a flat stone, before which the worker kneels, and crushing it with a small round stone held in the hands. Who acts: Kaffir women, bruise, worker. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of Long Snake., with its 
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, The Story of Long Snake., sentence 4

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Kaffir women grind, or rather bruise, millet by putting it on a flat stone, before which the worker kneels, and crushing it with a small round stone held in the hands.

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**Who acts:** Kaffir women, bruise, worker · **What happens:** grind, put, kneel, crush, hold · **To what, where:** bruise, millet, flat stone, worker, small round stone, hands

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This is a sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of Long Snake.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Kaffir women, bruise, worker), 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:pg71335:37:4
# text = Kaffir women grind, or rather bruise, millet by putting it on a flat stone, before which the worker kneels, and crushing it with a small round stone held in the hands.
1	Kaffir	kaffir	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	compound	_	_
2	women	woman	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	grind	grind	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
5	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
6	rather	rather	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	bruise	bruise	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
9	millet	millet	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	conj	_	_
10	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
11	putting	put	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	7	acl	_	_
12	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	obj	_	_
13	on	on	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
15	flat	flat	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	stone	stone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
18	before	before	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	22	obl	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	worker	worker	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nsubj	_	_
22	kneels	kneel	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
25	crushing	crush	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	22	advcl	_	_
26	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	obj	_	_
27	with	with	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
28	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
29	small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	31	amod	_	_
30	round	round	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	31	amod	_	_
31	stone	stone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	_
32	held	hold	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	31	acl	_	_
33	in	in	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	hands	hand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	32	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **grind** | present | Kaffir women | bruise and millet |  |  |  |  | vn carve-21.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **put** | gerund | bruise and millet *not said here* | millet |  | a flat stone |  |  | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V PP.destination NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme on stone=Destination |
| 3 | **kneel** | present | the worker |  |  |  |  | which *obl* | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent before which=Location |
| 4 | **crush** | gerund | the worker *not said here* | worker |  |  |  | with a small round stone | vn carve-21.2-1 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent it=Patient with stone=Instrument |
| 5 | **hold** | participle |  | a small round stone *not said here* |  | the hands |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in hand=Location |

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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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