---
title: They are fond of decorating their persons with ornaments, such as sh… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: They are fond of decorating their persons with ornaments, such as shells, teeth of animals, and beads, used as necklaces, copper and ivory rings on their arms, etc. They protect their bodies from the effects of the sun by rubbing themselves all over with fat and red clay, which makes them look like 
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, Introductory Chapter Regarding the Kaffirs., sentence 88

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They are fond of decorating their persons with ornaments, such as shells, teeth of animals, and beads, used as necklaces, copper and ivory rings on their arms, etc. They protect their bodies from the effects of the sun by rubbing themselves all over with fat and red clay, which makes them look like polished bronze.

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**Who acts:** women, etc., fat clay · **What happens:** be, decorate, use, protect, rub, make · **To what, where:** persons, bodies, women, sun

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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 (women, etc., fat clay), 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:pg71335:2:88
# text = They are fond of decorating their persons with ornaments, such as shells, teeth of animals, and beads, used as necklaces, copper and ivory rings on their arms, etc. They protect their bodies from the effects of the sun by rubbing themselves all over with fat and red clay, which makes them look like polished bronze.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	fond	fond	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
4	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
5	decorating	decorate	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	advcl	_	_
6	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	persons	person	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obj	_	_
8	with	with	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	ornaments	ornament	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
11	such	such	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|ExtPos=ADP	13	case	_	_
12	as	as	ADP	IN	_	11	fixed	_	_
13	shells	shell	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
15	teeth	tooth	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	conj	_	_
16	of	of	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	animals	animal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
20	beads	bead	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
22	used	use	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	conj	_	_
23	as	as	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	necklaces	necklace	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
26	copper	copper	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	conj	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
28	ivory	ivory	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	compound	_	_
29	rings	ring	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	24	conj	_	_
30	on	on	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	32	nmod:poss	_	_
32	arms	arm	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
34	etc.	etc.	NOUN	FW	Abbr=Yes|Number=Plur	36	nsubj	_	_
35	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	36	nsubj	_	_
36	protect	protect	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
37	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	38	nmod:poss	_	_
38	bodies	body	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	36	obj	_	_
39	from	from	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
40	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
41	effects	effect	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	36	obl	_	_
42	of	of	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
43	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	44	det	_	_
44	sun	sun	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	nmod	_	_
45	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	46	mark	_	_
46	rubbing	rub	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	36	advcl	_	_
47	themselves	themselves	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	46	obj	_	_
48	all	all	ADV	RB	_	49	advmod	_	_
49	over	over	ADV	RB	_	46	advmod	_	_
50	with	with	ADP	IN	_	54	case	_	_
51	fat	fat	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	54	amod	_	_
52	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	53	cc	_	_
53	red	red	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	51	conj	_	_
54	clay	clay	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	46	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
55	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	57	punct	_	_
56	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	57	nsubj	_	_
57	makes	make	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	54	acl:relcl	_	_
58	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	57	obj	_	_
59	look	look	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	57	xcomp	_	_
60	like	like	ADP	IN	_	62	case	_	_
61	polished	polish	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	62	amod	_	_
62	bronze	bronze	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	59	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
63	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | women *= woman* |  |  |  |  | fond *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **decorate** | gerund | women *= woman* *not said here* |  | women's persons |  |  | with ornaments and shells and teeth of animals and beads | vn illustrate-25.3 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent person=Destination with ornament=Theme |
| 3 | **use** | participle | women *= woman* *not said here* |  |  |  |  | as necklaces and copper and ivory rings on women's arms | vn eat-39.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **protect** | present | etc. | women's bodies |  |  |  | from the effects of the sun; women *= woman* *nsubj* | vn defend-72.3 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent body=Beneficiary from effect=Theme |
| 5 | **rub** | gerund | etc. *not said here* | women *= woman* |  |  |  | with fat clay; over *property* | vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V NP.destination PP.theme»: agent=Agent themselves=Destination with clay=Theme |
| 6 | **make** | present | fat clay | women *= woman* |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **look** | infinitive | women *= woman* *not said here* |  |  |  |  | like polished bronze | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus |
| 8 | **polish** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn butter-9.9 «NP V NP.destination»: agent=Agent |
| 9 | **effect** |  |  | the sun |  |  |  |  | nom effect «phenomenon transitive»: of=patient |

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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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