---
title: By such a person a syllable commencing with a click can only be soun… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: By such a person a syllable commencing with a click can only be sounded as a distinct word with a considerable interval of time between it and the one before it. Who acts: syllable, person. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Introductory Chapter Regarding the Kaffirs., with its
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, Introductory Chapter Regarding the Kaffirs., sentence 73

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By such a person a syllable commencing with a click can only be sounded as a distinct word with a considerable interval of time between it and the one before it.

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**Who acts:** syllable, person · **What happens:** commence, sound · **To what, where:** syllable

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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 (syllable, person), 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:pg71335:2:73
# text = By such a person a syllable commencing with a click can only be sounded as a distinct word with a considerable interval of time between it and the one before it.
1	By	by	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
2	such	such	DET	PDT	PronType=Ind	4	det:predet	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	person	person	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	syllable	syllable	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nsubj:pass	_	_
7	commencing	commence	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	6	acl	_	_
8	with	with	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	click	click	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
11	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
12	only	only	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
13	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	aux:pass	_	_
14	sounded	sound	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
15	as	as	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
16	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
17	distinct	distinct	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	_
19	with	with	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
20	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
21	considerable	considerable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	amod	_	_
22	interval	interval	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nmod	_	_
23	of	of	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nmod	_	_
25	between	between	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
26	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nmod	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	conj	_	_
30	before	before	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
31	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	14	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **commence** | gerund | a syllable *not said here* |  |  |  |  | with a click | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V PP.subeventuality»: agent=Eventuality with click=Subeventuality |
| 2 | **sound** | can · passive | such person | a syllable |  |  |  | as a distinct word with a considerable interval of time between interval and the one before interval | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location 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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