---
title: The wise woman said: “It was because you did not obey my command abo… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: The wise woman said: “It was because you did not obey my command about keeping this matter to yourself, but your wife will yet have a son without arms and without legs.” Who acts: wise woman, you, place, obey command. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of Simbukumbukw
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, The Story of Simbukumbukwana., sentence 12

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The wise woman said: “It was because you did not obey my command about keeping this matter to yourself, but your wife will yet have a son without arms and without legs.”

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**Who acts:** wise woman, you, place, obey command, wife · **What happens:** say, not obey, be, keep, have · **To what, where:** obey command, matter, yourself, son · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of Simbukumbukwana.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (wise woman, you, place, obey command), 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:pg71335:8:12
# text = The wise woman said: “It was because you did not obey my command about keeping this matter to yourself, but your wife will yet have a son without arms and without legs.”
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	wise	wise	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	15	punct	_	_
6	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	15	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
8	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	cop	_	_
9	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
10	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
11	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
12	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	13	advmod	_	_
13	obey	obey	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	compound	_	_
14	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	15	nmod:poss	_	_
15	command	command	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	ccomp	_	_
16	about	about	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
17	keeping	keep	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	15	acl	_	_
18	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	19	det	_	_
19	matter	matter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	_
20	to	to	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	yourself	yourself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
23	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
24	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	25	nmod:poss	_	_
25	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	nsubj	_	_
26	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	28	aux	_	_
27	yet	yet	ADV	RB	_	28	advmod	_	_
28	have	have	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	ccomp	_	_
29	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obj	_	_
31	without	without	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
32	arms	arm	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	28	obl	_	_
33	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
34	without	without	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
35	legs	leg	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	32	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	28	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	28	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 wise woman |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **not** **obey** *in a quote* | past · do-support | you |  |  |  |  |  | vn abide\_by-93.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **is a** *in a quote* | past | place | my obey command |  |  |  | my *nmod:poss* | tree rules |
| 4 | **keep** *in a quote* | gerund | my obey command *not said here* | this matter | yourself |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent matter=Theme |
| 5 | **have** *in a quote* | future | your wife | a son |  |  | yet | without arms and legs | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent son=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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