---
title: When he had learned the language of the people there, he was surpris… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: When he had learned the language of the people there, he was surprised to hear many of the common Kaffir folklore stories told nearly as he had heard them related by Gaika women when he was a boy. Who acts: Lake. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Story of Lion and Little Jacka
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, Story of Lion and Little Jackal., sentence 8

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When he had learned the language of the people there, he was surprised to hear many of the common Kaffir folklore stories told nearly as he had heard them related by Gaika women when he was a boy.

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**Who acts:** Lake · **What happens:** learn, be, hear, tell · **To what, where:** language, many, common Kaffir folklore stories, people, boy · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Story of Lion and Little Jackal.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Lake), 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:pg71335:39:8
# text = When he had learned the language of the people there, he was surprised to hear many of the common Kaffir folklore stories told nearly as he had heard them related by Gaika women when he was a boy.
1	When	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	learned	learn	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	language	language	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nmod	_	_
10	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	4	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
12	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
13	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	cop	_	_
14	surprised	surprised	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	conj	_	_
15	to	to	PART	TO	_	16	mark	_	_
16	hear	hear	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	advcl	_	_
17	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	obj	_	_
18	of	of	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
20	common	common	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
21	Kaffir	Kaffir	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	23	compound	_	_
22	folklore	folklore	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	compound	_	_
23	stories	story	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	nmod	_	_
24	told	tell	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	23	acl	_	_
25	nearly	nearly	ADV	RB	_	24	advmod	_	_
26	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	29	mark	_	_
27	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
28	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	aux	_	_
29	heard	hear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	24	ccomp	_	_
30	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	obj	_	_
31	related	related	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	xcomp	_	_
32	by	by	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
33	Gaika	Gaika	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	34	compound	_	_
34	women	woman	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	obl	_	_
35	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	39	advmod	_	_
36	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	39	nsubj	_	_
37	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	39	cop	_	_
38	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
39	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **learn** | past · perfect | Lake | the language of the people |  | there |  |  | vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent language=Topic |
| 2 | **is** | past | Lake |  |  |  |  | surprised *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **hear** | to-infinitive | Lake *not said here* | many of the common Kaffir folklore stories |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer many=Stimulus |
| 4 | **tell** *speech: assert* | participle |  | the common Kaffir folklore stories *not said here* |  |  |  | nearly *property* | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 5 | **hear** | past · perfect | Lake | people |  |  |  | by Gaika women; related *property* | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer they=Stimulus |
| 6 | **is a** | past | Lake | a boy |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .note -->
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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- ↑ back to [Story of Lion and Little Jackal.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg71335/39/)