---
title: The old woman gave him some fat, and said: “If the cannibals pursue… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: The old woman gave him some fat, and said: “If the cannibals pursue you, put some of this on a stone.” Who acts: old woman, cannibals. 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 55

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The old woman gave him some fat, and said: “If the cannibals pursue you, put some of this on a stone.”

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**Who acts:** old woman, cannibals · **What happens:** give, say, pursue, put · **To what, where:** fat, cannibal, you, some, stone · **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 (old woman, cannibals), 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:pg71335:9:55
# text = The old woman gave him some fat, and said: “If the cannibals pursue you, put some of this on a stone.”
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	gave	give	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	iobj	_	_
6	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	7	det	_	_
7	fat	fat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	19	punct	_	_
12	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	19	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	16	mark	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	cannibals	cannibal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	nsubj	_	_
16	pursue	pursue	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	19	advcl	_	_
17	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	16	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
19	put	put	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	ccomp	_	_
20	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	19	obj	_	_
21	of	of	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	20	nmod	_	_
23	on	on	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	stone	stone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	19	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	19	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **give** | past | the old woman | some fat | cannibal |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent he=Recipient fat=Theme |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the old woman *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **pursue** *a condition, not said to happen, in a quote* | present | the cannibals | you |  |  |  |  | vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent you=Theme |
| 4 | **put** *in a quote* | infinitive |  | some of this |  | a stone |  |  | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V PP.destination NP»: agent=Agent some=Theme on stone=Destination |

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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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