---
title: They stand in couples, each with a foot advanced to meet that of his… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: They stand in couples, each with a foot advanced to meet that of his antagonist, and with a cudgel elevated in the right hand. Who acts: boys. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of Sikulume., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, The Story of Sikulume., sentence 14

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They stand in couples, each with a foot advanced to meet that of his antagonist, and with a cudgel elevated in the right hand.

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**Who acts:** boys · **What happens:** stand, meet, elevate · **To what, where:** couples, that, cudgel, right hand

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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), 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:pg71335:32:14
# text = They stand in couples, each with a foot advanced to meet that of his antagonist, and with a cudgel elevated in the right hand.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	stand	stand	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	in	in	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	couples	couple	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
6	each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	4	appos	_	_
7	with	with	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	foot	foot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
10	advanced	advanced	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
11	to	to	PART	TO	_	12	mark	_	_
12	meet	meet	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	xcomp	_	_
13	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	12	obj	_	_
14	of	of	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	16	nmod:poss	_	_
16	antagonist	antagonist	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
19	with	with	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	cudgel	cudgel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
22	elevated	elevate	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	21	acl	_	_
23	in	in	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
25	right	right	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	amod	_	_
26	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stand** | present | boys *= boy* |  |  | couples |  | with a cudgel | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent in couple=Location |
| 2 | **meet** | to-infinitive | boys *= boy* *not said here* | that of Khàkhàbay's antagonist |  |  |  |  | vn meet-36.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent that=Co-Agent |
| 3 | **elevate** | participle |  | a cudgel *not said here* |  | the right hand |  |  | vn put\_direction-9.4 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent in hand=Destination |

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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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