---
title: While he was singing, there came a great bird and hovered over them,… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: While he was singing, there came a great bird and hovered over them, and said: “Hold fast to me.” Who acts: Mosemanyanamatong, great bird. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of the Bird That Made Milk. II., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, The Story of the Bird That Made Milk. II., sentence 90

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While he was singing, there came a great bird and hovered over them, and said: “Hold fast to me.”

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**Who acts:** Mosemanyanamatong, great bird · **What happens:** sing, come, hover, say, hold · **To what, where:** great bird · **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 (Mosemanyanamatong, great bird), 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:pg71335:4:90
# text = While he was singing, there came a great bird and hovered over them, and said: “Hold fast to me.”
1	While	while	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	singing	sing	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	7	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
6	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	7	expl	_	_
7	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
12	hovered	hover	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
13	over	over	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
17	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	20	punct	_	_
19	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	20	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	Hold	hold	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	ccomp	_	_
21	fast	fast	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	20	advmod	_	_
22	to	to	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
23	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	20	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	20	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	20	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sing** *speech: express* | past · progressive | Mosemanyanamatong |  |  |  |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP.location V PP.theme»: agent=Location |
| 2 | **come** | past | a great bird |  |  | there |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **hover** | past | a great bird *not said here* |  |  |  |  | over girls *= girl* | vn modes\_of\_being\_with\_motion-47.3 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme over they=Location |
| 4 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | a great bird *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 5 | **hold** *in a quote* | infinitive |  |  | a great bird *= bird* |  |  | fast *property* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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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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