---
title: The players sit in a circle, and each has a little piece of wood, a… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: The players sit in a circle, and each has a little piece of wood, a grain of corn, or something of the kind. Who acts: players, each. 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 37

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The players sit in a circle, and each has a little piece of wood, a grain of corn, or something of the kind.

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**Who acts:** players, each · **What happens:** sit, have · **To what, where:** circle, little piece

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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 (players, each), 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:pg71335:32:37
# text = The players sit in a circle, and each has a little piece of wood, a grain of corn, or something of the kind.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	players	player	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	sit	sit	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	circle	circle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
9	each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	10	nsubj	_	_
10	has	have	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
12	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	piece	piece	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	_
14	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	wood	wood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
17	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	grain	grain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	conj	_	_
19	of	of	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
20	corn	corn	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
22	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
23	something	something	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	10	obl	_	_
24	of	of	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	kind	kind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sit** | present | the players |  |  | a circle |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent in circle=Location |
| 2 | **have** | present | each | a little piece of wood and a grain of corn |  |  |  | something of the kind *obl* | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent piece=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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- ← previous: [sentence 36](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg71335/32/36/)
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- ↑ back to [The Story of Sikulume.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg71335/32/)