---
title: Mpunzikazi replied: “You are not worthy to speak to me, as I am to b… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: Mpunzikazi replied: “You are not worthy to speak to me, as I am to be the wife of a chief.” Who acts: Mpunzikazi, You. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of Five Heads., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, The Story of Five Heads., sentence 26

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Mpunzikazi replied: “You are not worthy to speak to me, as I am to be the wife of a chief.”

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**Who acts:** Mpunzikazi, You · **What happens:** reply, not be, speak, be · **To what, where:** Mpunzikazi, wife · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of Five Heads.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Mpunzikazi, 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:pg71335:5:26
# text = Mpunzikazi replied: “You are not worthy to speak to me, as I am to be the wife of a chief.”
1	Mpunzikazi	Mpunzikazi	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	replied	reply	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	8	punct	_	_
4	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	You	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
6	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
7	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	8	advmod	_	_
8	worthy	worthy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	ccomp	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	speak	speak	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	xcomp	_	_
11	to	to	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
14	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	16	mark	_	_
15	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
16	am	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	advcl	_	_
17	to	to	PART	TO	_	20	mark	_	_
18	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	cop	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	ccomp	_	_
21	of	of	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	chief	chief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **reply** *speech: assert* | past | Mpunzikazi |  |  |  |  |  | vn respond-113 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **not** **is** *in a quote* | present | You |  |  |  |  | worthy *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **speak** *speech: other* *in a quote* | to-infinitive | You *not said here* |  | Mpunzikazi |  |  |  | vn talk-37.5 «NP V PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent to i=Co-Agent |
| 4 | **is a** *in a quote* | to-infinitive |  | the wife |  |  |  | of a chief | tree rules |

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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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