---
title: The custom is general for a married woman to have a lover who is not… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: The custom is general for a married woman to have a lover who is not her husband, and little or no disgrace attaches to her on this account. Who acts: custom, lover, disgrace. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of Five Heads., with its dependency tree and the pragmati
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, The Story of Five Heads., sentence 9

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The custom is general for a married woman to have a lover who is not her husband, and little or no disgrace attaches to her on this account.

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**Who acts:** custom, lover, disgrace · **What happens:** be, have, not be, attach · **To what, where:** lover, husband, woman, account

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This is a sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of Five Heads.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (custom, lover, disgrace), 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:pg71335:28:9
# text = The custom is general for a married woman to have a lover who is not her husband, and little or no disgrace attaches to her on this account.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	custom	custom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	general	general	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	for	for	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	married	married	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	have	have	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	acl	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	lover	lover	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	_
13	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	17	nsubj	_	_
14	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	17	cop	_	_
15	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	17	advmod	_	_
16	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	17	nmod:poss	_	_
17	husband	husband	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
20	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	conj	_	_
21	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
22	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	23	det	_	_
23	disgrace	disgrace	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	nsubj	_	_
24	attaches	attach	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
25	to	to	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
26	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	obl	_	_
27	on	on	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	29	det	_	_
29	account	account	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | the custom |  |  |  |  | for a married woman; general *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **have** | to-infinitive | the custom *not said here* | a lover |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent lover=Patient |
| 3 | **not** **is a** | present | a lover | woman's husband |  |  |  | woman *nmod:poss* | tree rules |
| 4 | **be** |  | the custom *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **attach** | present | no disgrace |  | woman | this account |  |  | vn shake-22.3-2-1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=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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