---
title: A second is the custom that a man who can escape from a chief whose… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: A second is the custom that a man who can escape from a chief whose enmity he has incurred will be protected by any other with whom he takes refuge, so that an arbitrary or unpopular ruler is in constant danger of losing his followers. Who acts: second, man, arbitrary, constant danger. A sentence of
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, Introductory Chapter Regarding the Kaffirs., sentence 29

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A second is the custom that a man who can escape from a chief whose enmity he has incurred will be protected by any other with whom he takes refuge, so that an arbitrary or unpopular ruler is in constant danger of losing his followers.

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**Who acts:** second, man, arbitrary, constant danger · **What happens:** be, escape, incur, protect, take, lose · **To what, where:** custom, chief, man, refuge, constant danger, followers

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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 (second, man, arbitrary, constant danger), 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:pg71335:2:29
# text = A second is the custom that a man who can escape from a chief whose enmity he has incurred will be protected by any other with whom he takes refuge, so that an arbitrary or unpopular ruler is in constant danger of losing his followers.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	second	second	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	custom	custom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	22	obj	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nsubj:pass	_	_
9	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	11	nsubj	_	_
10	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
11	escape	escape	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	acl:relcl	_	_
12	from	from	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	chief	chief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	_
15	whose	whose	PRON	WP$	Poss=Yes|PronType=Rel	16	nmod:poss	_	_
16	enmity	enmity	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nmod	_	_
17	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
18	has	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
19	incurred	incur	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	14	acl:relcl	_	_
20	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	_
21	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	aux:pass	_	_
22	protected	protect	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	acl:relcl	_	_
23	by	by	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	22	obl	_	_
25	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	fixed	_	_
26	with	with	SCONJ	IN	_	29	mark	_	_
27	whom	whom	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	29	obj	_	_
28	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
29	takes	take	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	22	advcl	_	_
30	refuge	refuge	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	42	punct	_	_
32	so	so	SCONJ	IN	ExtPos=SCONJ	42	mark	_	_
33	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	32	fixed	_	_
34	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	arbitrary	arbitrary	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	nsubj	_	_
36	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	38	cc	_	_
37	unpopular	unpopular	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	38	amod	_	_
38	ruler	ruler	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	conj	_	_
39	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	42	cop	_	_
40	in	in	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
41	constant	constant	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	42	amod	_	_
42	danger	danger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	_
43	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	44	mark	_	_
44	losing	lose	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	42	acl	_	_
45	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	46	nmod:poss	_	_
46	followers	follower	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	44	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | a second | the custom |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **escape** | can | a man |  |  | a chief  a chief  a chief's enmity's enmity |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme from chief=Initial\_Location |
| 3 | **incur** | present · perfect | man | a chief  a chief  a chief's enmity's enmity *not said here* |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **protect** | future · passive |  | a man |  |  |  | by any; the custom *obj* | tree rules |
| 5 | **take** | present | man | refuge |  |  |  | whom *obj* | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP ADVP»: agent=Instrument whom=Theme refuge=Destination |
| 6 | **is** | present | a arbitrary or unpopular ruler |  |  | constant danger |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **lose** | gerund | constant danger *not said here* | man's followers |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent follower=Eventuality |

<!-- .note -->
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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