---
title: In playing, the arms are thrown out very quickly, and the words are… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: In playing, the arms are thrown out very quickly, and the words are rapidly uttered, so that a stranger might fancy there was neither order nor rule observed. Who acts: stranger, order. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of Sikulume., with its dependency tree and the 
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, The Story of Sikulume., sentence 48

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In playing, the arms are thrown out very quickly, and the words are rapidly uttered, so that a stranger might fancy there was neither order nor rule observed.

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**Who acts:** stranger, order · **What happens:** play, throw out, utter, fancy, be, observe · **To what, where:** arms, words, rule

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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 (stranger, order), 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:pg71335:32:48
# text = In playing, the arms are thrown out very quickly, and the words are rapidly uttered, so that a stranger might fancy there was neither order nor rule observed.
1	In	in	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	playing	play	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	7	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	arms	arm	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj:pass	_	_
6	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux:pass	_	_
7	thrown	throw	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
8	out	out	ADP	RP	_	7	compound:prt	_	_
9	very	very	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
10	quickly	quickly	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	nsubj:pass	_	_
15	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	17	aux:pass	_	_
16	rapidly	rapidly	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	_
17	uttered	utter	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
19	so	so	ADV	RB	_	24	advmod	_	_
20	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	24	mark	_	_
21	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	stranger	stranger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	nsubj	_	_
23	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	24	aux	_	_
24	fancy	fancy	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	conj	_	_
25	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	26	expl	_	_
26	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	ccomp	_	_
27	neither	neither	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	28	det	_	_
28	order	order	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	nsubj	_	_
29	nor	nor	CCONJ	CC	Polarity=Neg	30	cc	_	_
30	rule	rule	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	conj	_	_
31	observed	observe	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	30	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **play** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn performance-26.7-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **throw out** | present · passive |  | the arms |  |  |  | quickly *property* | vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 3 | **utter** *speech: other* | present · passive |  | the words |  |  |  | rapidly *property* | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V NP.topic»: subject=Topic |
| 4 | **fancy** | might | a stranger |  |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 5 | **be** | past | neither order nor rule |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **observe** | participle |  | rule *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |

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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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