---
title: While he was sitting there, he noticed some birds close by which wer… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: While he was sitting there, he noticed some birds close by which were singing very joyfully. Who acts: man, 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 4

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While he was sitting there, he noticed some birds close by which were singing very joyfully.

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**Who acts:** man, birds · **What happens:** sit, notice, close, sing · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (man, 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:pg71335:9:4
# text = While he was sitting there, he noticed some birds close by which were singing very joyfully.
1	While	while	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	sitting	sit	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	8	advcl	_	_
5	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	4	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
7	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
8	noticed	notice	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	10	det	_	_
10	birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	nsubj	_	_
11	close	close	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	ccomp	_	_
12	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
13	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	15	nsubj	_	_
14	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
15	singing	sing	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	11	advcl	_	_
16	very	very	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	_
17	joyfully	joyfully	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sit** | past · progressive | man |  |  | there |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **notice** | past | man |  |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 3 | **close** | present | some birds |  |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 4 | **sing** *speech: express* | past · progressive |  |  |  |  |  | which *nsubj*; joyfully *property* | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP V»: agent=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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