---
title: The girls of the jaka are allowed by immemorial custom to select swe… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: The girls of the jaka are allowed by immemorial custom to select sweethearts, and this liberty often leads to depravity. Who acts: immemorial custom, girls, liberty. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Story of the Girl Who Disregarded the Custom of Ntonjane., with its dependenc
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, Story of the Girl Who Disregarded the Custom of Ntonjane., sentence 33

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The girls of the jaka are allowed by immemorial custom to select sweethearts, and this liberty often leads to depravity.

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**Who acts:** immemorial custom, girls, liberty · **What happens:** allow, select, lead · **To what, where:** girls, sweethearts

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This is a sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Story of the Girl Who Disregarded the Custom of Ntonjane.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (immemorial custom, girls, liberty), 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:pg71335:30:33
# text = The girls of the jaka are allowed by immemorial custom to select sweethearts, and this liberty often leads to depravity.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	girls	girl	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	jaka	jaka	X	FW	Foreign=Yes	2	nmod	_	_
6	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux:pass	_	_
7	allowed	allow	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
8	by	by	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	immemorial	immemorial	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	custom	custom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
11	to	to	PART	TO	_	12	mark	_	_
12	select	select	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	xcomp	_	_
13	sweethearts	sweetheart	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
16	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	17	det	_	_
17	liberty	liberty	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nsubj	_	_
18	often	often	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	_
19	leads	lead	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
20	to	to	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	depravity	depravity	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **allow** | present · passive | immemorial custom | the girls of the jaka |  |  |  |  | vn allow-64.1-1 «NP V NP S»: agent=Causer subject=Beneficiary clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **select** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the girls of the jaka *not said here* | sweethearts |  |  |  |  | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sweetheart=Theme |
| 3 | **lead** | present | this liberty |  |  |  |  | to depravity; often *property* | vn result-27.2 «NP V PP»: agent=Precondition to depravity=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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