---
title: But instead of speaking to the snake respectfully as the others had… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: But instead of speaking to the snake respectfully as the others had done, she said mockingly, “Ngcingcingci, ngcingcingci.” Who acts: snake, others. 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 pr
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, Story of the Girl Who Disregarded the Custom of Ntonjane., sentence 12

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But instead of speaking to the snake respectfully as the others had done, she said mockingly, “Ngcingcingci, ngcingcingci.”

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**Who acts:** snake, others · **What happens:** speak, do, say · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (snake, others), 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:pg71335:7:12
# text = But instead of speaking to the snake respectfully as the others had done, she said mockingly, “Ngcingcingci, ngcingcingci.”
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
2	instead	instead	ADV	RB	ExtPos=SCONJ	4	mark	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	2	fixed	_	_
4	speaking	speak	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	16	advcl	_	_
5	to	to	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	snake	snake	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
8	respectfully	respectfully	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
9	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	others	other	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	nsubj	_	_
12	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
13	done	do	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	4	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
15	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
16	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
17	mockingly	mockingly	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
19	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	20	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	Ngcingcingci	Ngcingcingci	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	16	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
22	ngcingcingci	ngcingcingci	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	16	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	16	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **speak** *speech: other* | gerund | snake *not said here* |  |  |  |  | to the snake | vn talk-37.5 «NP V PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent to snake=Co-Agent |
| 2 | **do** | past · perfect | the others |  |  |  |  | respectfully *property* | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | snake |  |  |  |  | Ngcingcingci and ngcingcingci *parataxis*; mockingly *property* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=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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