---
title: The bird said she must eat of these always before she partook of foo… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: The bird said she must eat of these always before she partook of food, and then she would bear a child. Who acts: bird. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of Tangalimlibo., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, The Story of Tangalimlibo., sentence 3

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The bird said she must eat of these always before she partook of food, and then she would bear a child.

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**Who acts:** bird · **What happens:** say, eat, partake, bear · **To what, where:** child · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of Tangalimlibo.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (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:pg71335:6:3
# text = The bird said she must eat of these always before she partook of food, and then she would bear a child.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
5	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
6	eat	eat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	ccomp	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	these	this	PRON	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	6	obl	_	_
9	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	6	advmod	_	_
10	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
11	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	partook	partake	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	advcl	_	_
13	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
17	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	20	advmod	_	_
18	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
19	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	20	aux	_	_
20	bear	bear	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	conj	_	_
21	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	child	child	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the bird |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **eat** | must | bird |  |  |  |  | of these; always *property* | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V PP.source»: agent=Agent of this=Source |
| 3 | **partake** | past | bird |  |  |  |  | of food | tree rules |
| 4 | **bear** | would | bird | a child |  |  | then |  | vn birth-28.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent child=Patient |

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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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