---
title: Boys in early youth are permitted to eat any kind of meat, even that… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: Boys in early youth are permitted to eat any kind of meat, even that of wild cats and other carnivora, but when they reach the age of maturity the flesh of all unclean animals is rejected by them. Who acts: Boys. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Introductory Chapter Regarding
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, Introductory Chapter Regarding the Kaffirs., sentence 127

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Boys in early youth are permitted to eat any kind of meat, even that of wild cats and other carnivora, but when they reach the age of maturity the flesh of all unclean animals is rejected by them.

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**Who acts:** Boys · **What happens:** permit, eat, reach, reject · **To what, where:** Boys, kind, age, flesh

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This is a sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Introductory Chapter Regarding the Kaffirs.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Boys), 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:pg71335:2:127
# text = Boys in early youth are permitted to eat any kind of meat, even that of wild cats and other carnivora, but when they reach the age of maturity the flesh of all unclean animals is rejected by them.
1	Boys	boy	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	in	in	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	early	early	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	youth	youth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nmod	_	_
5	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux:pass	_	_
6	permitted	permit	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	eat	eat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	xcomp	_	_
9	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	10	det	_	_
10	kind	kind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	meat	meat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
14	even	even	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
15	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	8	obl	_	_
16	of	of	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	wild	wild	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	cats	cat	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	nmod	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
20	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	amod	_	_
21	carnivora	carnivora	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
23	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	38	cc	_	_
24	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	26	mark	_	_
25	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
26	reach	reach	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	38	advcl	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	age	age	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obj	_	_
29	of	of	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
30	maturity	maturity	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	nmod	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	flesh	flesh	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	nsubj:pass	_	_
33	of	of	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
34	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	36	det	_	_
35	unclean	unclean	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	36	amod	_	_
36	animals	animal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	32	nmod	_	_
37	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	38	aux:pass	_	_
38	rejected	reject	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	conj	_	_
39	by	by	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
40	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	38	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **permit** | present · passive |  | Boys in early youth |  |  |  |  | vn allow-64.1-1 «NP V NP S»: subject=Beneficiary clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **eat** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive |  | any kind of meat |  |  |  | that of wild cats and other carnivora *obl* | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent kind=Patient |
| 3 | **reach** | present | Boys *= boy* | the age of maturity |  |  |  |  | vn body\_motion-49.2-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Agent age=Theme |
| 4 | **reject** | present · passive | Boys *= boy* | the flesh of all unclean animals |  |  |  |  | vn reject-77.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=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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