---
title: The young man was cutting sticks, when he heard some one crying: “Ma… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: The young man was cutting sticks, when he heard some one crying: “Man cutting sticks, tell my father and mother that the sinyobolokondwana bit me.” Who acts: young man, man, one, sinyobolokondwana. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Story of the Girl Who Disregarded the Custom 
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, Story of the Girl Who Disregarded the Custom of Ntonjane., sentence 18

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The young man was cutting sticks, when he heard some one crying: “Man cutting sticks, tell my father and mother that the sinyobolokondwana bit me.”

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**Who acts:** young man, man, one, sinyobolokondwana · **What happens:** cut, hear, cry, tell, bite · **To what, where:** sticks, one, father, me · **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 (young man, man, one, sinyobolokondwana), 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:pg71335:7:18
# text = The young man was cutting sticks, when he heard some one crying: “Man cutting sticks, tell my father and mother that the sinyobolokondwana bit me.”
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
5	cutting	cut	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
6	sticks	stick	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
8	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	10	advmod	_	_
9	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	heard	hear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
11	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	12	det	_	_
12	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	_
13	crying	cry	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	12	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	16	punct	_	_
15	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	16	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	Man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	conj	_	_
17	cutting	cut	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	16	acl	_	_
18	sticks	stick	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
20	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	conj	_	_
21	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	22	nmod:poss	_	_
22	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obj	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
24	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	conj	_	_
25	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	28	mark	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	sinyobolokondwana	sinyobolokondwana	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	nsubj	_	_
28	bit	bite	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	advcl	_	_
29	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	28	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cut** | past · progressive | the young man | sticks |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent stick=Product |
| 2 | **hear** | past | man | some one |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer one=Stimulus |
| 3 | **cry** *speech: express* | gerund | some one *not said here* |  |  |  |  | Man *conj* | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **cut** *in a quote* | gerund | Man *not said here* | sticks |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset stick=Product |
| 5 | **tell** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | infinitive | man *not said here* |  | my father and mother |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent father=Recipient |
| 6 | **bite** *in a quote* | past | the sinyobolokondwana | me |  |  |  |  | vn swat-18.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent i=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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