---
title: There was once a chief’s daughter who had reached the age when it wa… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: There was once a chief’s daughter who had reached the age when it was necessary for her to observe the ntonjane. Who acts: daughter. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Story of the Girl Who Disregarded the Custom of Ntonjane., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of ever
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, Story of the Girl Who Disregarded the Custom of Ntonjane., sentence 1

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There was once a chief’s daughter who had reached the age when it was necessary for her to observe the ntonjane.

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**Who acts:** daughter · **What happens:** be, reach, observe · **To what, where:** age, ntonjane

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This is a sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Story of the Girl Who Disregarded the Custom of Ntonjane.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (daughter), 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:pg71335:7:1
# text = There was once a chief’s daughter who had reached the age when it was necessary for her to observe the ntonjane.
1	There	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	2	expl	_	_
2	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	2	advmod	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	chief	chief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	’s	's	PART	POS	_	5	case	_	_
7	daughter	daughter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
8	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	10	nsubj	_	_
9	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
10	reached	reach	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	7	acl:relcl	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	age	age	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	_
13	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	16	mark	_	_
14	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	expl	_	_
15	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	cop	_	_
16	necessary	necessary	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	advcl	_	_
17	for	for	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	obl	_	_
19	to	to	PART	TO	_	20	mark	_	_
20	observe	observe	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	csubj	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	ntonjane	ntonjane	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be** | past | a chief's daughter |  |  | there |  | once *property* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **reach** | past · perfect | a chief's daughter | the age |  |  |  |  | vn body\_motion-49.2-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Agent age=Theme |
| 3 | **is** | past | a chief's daughter *not said here* |  |  |  |  | for daughter; necessary *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **observe** | to-infinitive |  | the ntonjane |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent ntonjane=Topic |

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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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