---
title: When practising, they keep up a continual noise, and if an unusually… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: When practising, they keep up a continual noise, and if an unusually successful hit is made the thrower shouts the common Kaffir cry of exultation, Tsi! ha! ha! ha! ha! Who acts: boys, practising, exultation. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of Sikulume., with its d
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, The Story of Sikulume., sentence 10

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When practising, they keep up a continual noise, and if an unusually successful hit is made the thrower shouts the common Kaffir cry of exultation, Tsi! ha! ha! ha! ha!

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**Who acts:** boys, practising, exultation · **What happens:** practise, keep up, make, shout, cry · **To what, where:** continual noise, successful hit, common Kaffir cry · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of Sikulume.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (boys, practising, exultation), 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:pg71335:32:10
# text = When practising, they keep up a continual noise, and if an unusually successful hit is made the thrower shouts the common Kaffir cry of exultation, Tsi! ha! ha! ha! ha!
1	When	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	2	advmod	_	_
2	practising	practise	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	21	csubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
4	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
5	keep	keep	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
6	up	up	ADP	RP	_	5	compound:prt	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	continual	continual	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	noise	noise	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
12	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	18	mark	_	_
13	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
14	unusually	unusually	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
15	successful	successful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	hit	hit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nsubj:pass	_	_
17	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	18	aux:pass	_	_
18	made	make	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	advcl	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	thrower	thrower	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obj	_	_
21	shouts	shout	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
23	common	common	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	amod	_	_
24	Kaffir	Kaffir	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	25	compound	_	_
25	cry	cry	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obj	_	_
26	of	of	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
27	exultation	exultation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
29	Tsi	Tsi	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	25	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	29	punct	_	_
31	ha	ha	INTJ	UH	_	25	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	25	punct	_	_
33	ha	ha	INTJ	UH	_	21	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	21	punct	_	_
35	ha	ha	INTJ	UH	_	21	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	21	punct	_	_
37	ha	ha	INTJ	UH	_	21	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	21	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **practise** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **keep up** | present | boys *= boy* | a continual noise |  |  |  |  | vn sustain-55.6 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent noise=Theme |
| 3 | **make** *a condition, not said to happen* | present · passive |  | a successful hit |  |  |  | the thrower *obj* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP NP»: subject=Beneficiary thrower=Product |
| 4 | **shout** *speech: express* | present | practising | the common Kaffir cry of exultation |  |  |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent cry=Topic |
| 5 | **cry** |  | exultation |  |  |  |  |  | nom cry «communication intransitive»: of=agent |

<!-- .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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