---
title: I have lost seven sons in battle, and these beautiful birds shall be… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: I have lost seven sons in battle, and these beautiful birds shall be in the place of my seven sons. Who acts: I, beautiful birds. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of Sikulume., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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

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I have lost seven sons in battle, and these beautiful birds shall be in the place of my seven sons.

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**Who acts:** I, beautiful birds · **What happens:** lose, be · **To what, where:** seven sons, battle, place

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This is a sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of Sikulume.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I, beautiful birds), 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:pg71335:9:12
# text = I have lost seven sons in battle, and these beautiful birds shall be in the place of my seven sons.
1	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	lost	lose	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
4	seven	seven	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	5	nummod	_	_
5	sons	son	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	battle	battle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
10	these	this	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	12	det	_	_
11	beautiful	beautiful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	nsubj	_	_
13	shall	shall	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
14	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	cop	_	_
15	in	in	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	place	place	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
18	of	of	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
19	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	21	nmod:poss	_	_
20	seven	seven	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	21	nummod	_	_
21	sons	son	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **lose** | present · perfect | I | seven sons |  | battle |  |  | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent son=Eventuality |
| 2 | **is** | shall | this beautiful birds |  |  | the place |  | of my seven sons | tree rules |

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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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