---
title: He called to his sister: “You have beaten me,” but she asked him to… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: He called to his sister: “You have beaten me,” but she asked him to forgive her. Who acts: boy, sister. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of Simbukumbukwana., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, The Story of Simbukumbukwana., sentence 63

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He called to his sister: “You have beaten me,” but she asked him to forgive her.

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**Who acts:** boy, sister · **What happens:** call, beat, ask, forgive · **To what, where:** sister, boy · **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 (boy, sister), 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:pg71335:8:63
# text = He called to his sister: “You have beaten me,” but she asked him to forgive her.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	called	call	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	to	to	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	sister	sister	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	10	punct	_	_
7	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	You	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
9	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
10	beaten	beat	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	2	parataxis	_	_
11	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	10	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	10	punct	_	_
14	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
15	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
16	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
17	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	iobj	_	_
18	to	to	PART	TO	_	19	mark	_	_
19	forgive	forgive	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	xcomp	_	_
20	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **call** *speech: assert* | past | boy |  | boy's sister |  |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V PP.recipient that S»: agent=Agent to sister=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 2 | **beat** *in a quote* | present · perfect | boy's sister *= sister* | boy |  |  |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location i=Theme |
| 3 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | sister |  | boy |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S\_INF»: agent=Agent he=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 4 | **forgive** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | sister *not said here* | sister |  |  |  |  | vn judgment-33.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent she=Theme |

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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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