---
title: The man went home and said to his two daughters: “Which of you wishe… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: The man went home and said to his two daughters: “Which of you wishes to be the wife of a chief?” Who acts: man. 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 7

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The man went home and said to his two daughters: “Which of you wishes to be the wife of a chief?”

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**Who acts:** man · **What happens:** go, say, wish, be · **To what, where:** two daughters, 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 (man), 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:pg71335:5:7
# text = The man went home and said to his two daughters: “Which of you wishes to be the wife of a chief?”
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	home	home	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
7	to	to	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
8	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	10	nmod:poss	_	_
9	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	10	nummod	_	_
10	daughters	daughter	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	16	punct	_	_
12	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	16	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	Which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	16	nsubj	_	_
14	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	13	obl	_	_
16	wishes	wish	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
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	.	_	16	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	16	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **go** | past | the man |  |  |  |  | home *property* | vn say-37.7 «NP V S-Quote»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the man *not said here* |  | man's two daughters |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to daughter=Recipient |
| 3 | **wish** *in a quote* | present |  |  |  |  |  | Which of you *nsubj* | vn wish-62 «NP V for NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot |
| 4 | **is a** *not said to happen, 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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