---
title: While they were roasting the roots and were merry, there came a big… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: While they were roasting the roots and were merry, there came a big cannibal, and they heard his voice saying: “Mosemanyanamatong, give me some of the wild roots you have.” Who acts: children, voice, Mosemanyanamatong, you. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of the Bi
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, The Story of the Bird That Made Milk. II., sentence 76

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While they were roasting the roots and were merry, there came a big cannibal, and they heard his voice saying: “Mosemanyanamatong, give me some of the wild roots you have.”

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**Who acts:** children, voice, Mosemanyanamatong, you · **What happens:** roast, be, come, hear, say, give · **To what, where:** roots, big cannibal, voice, some, storm, wild roots · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of the Bird That Made Milk. II.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (children, voice, Mosemanyanamatong, you), 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:pg71335:4:76
# text = While they were roasting the roots and were merry, there came a big cannibal, and they heard his voice saying: “Mosemanyanamatong, give me some of the wild roots you have.”
1	While	while	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	roasting	roast	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	12	advcl	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	roots	root	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
8	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
9	merry	merry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
11	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	12	expl	_	_
12	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
14	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	cannibal	cannibal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
18	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
19	heard	hear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	conj	_	_
20	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	21	nmod:poss	_	_
21	voice	voice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obj	_	_
22	saying	say	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	19	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	27	punct	_	_
24	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	27	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	Mosemanyanamatong	Mosemanyanamatong	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	27	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
27	give	give	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	ccomp	_	_
28	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	27	iobj	_	_
29	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	27	obj	_	_
30	of	of	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
32	wild	wild	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	compound	_	_
33	roots	root	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	nmod	_	_
34	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	35	nsubj	_	_
35	have	have	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	33	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	27	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	27	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **roast** | past · progressive | children *= child* | the roots |  |  |  |  | vn cooking-45.3 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent root=Patient |
| 2 | **is** | past | children *= child* *not said here* |  |  |  |  | merry *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **come** | past |  | a big cannibal |  | there |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location cannibal=Theme |
| 4 | **hear** | past | children *= child* | storm's voice |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **say** *speech: assert* | gerund | storm's voice *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **give** *in a quote* | infinitive | Mosemanyanamatong | some of the wild roots | storm |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent i=Recipient some=Theme |
| 7 | **have** *in a quote* | present | you | the wild roots *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent root=Patient |

<!-- .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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