---
title: Young men and boys often spend whole nights playing the Iceya, which… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: Young men and boys often spend whole nights playing the Iceya, which has the same hold upon them as dice upon some Europeans. Who acts: Young men, whole nights, Iceya. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of Sikulume., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of ever
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, The Story of Sikulume., sentence 49

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Young men and boys often spend whole nights playing the Iceya, which has the same hold upon them as dice upon some Europeans.

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**Who acts:** Young men, whole nights, Iceya · **What happens:** spend, play, have · **To what, where:** Iceya, same hold

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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 (Young men, whole nights, Iceya), 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:pg71335:32:49
# text = Young men and boys often spend whole nights playing the Iceya, which has the same hold upon them as dice upon some Europeans.
1	Young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
3	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
4	boys	boy	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	conj	_	_
5	often	often	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	spend	spend	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	whole	whole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	nights	night	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obj	_	_
9	playing	play	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	8	acl	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	Iceya	Iceya	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
13	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	14	nsubj	_	_
14	has	have	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	acl:relcl	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
16	same	same	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	hold	hold	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	_
18	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nmod	_	_
20	as	as	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	dice	die	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	obl	_	_
22	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	24	det	_	_
24	Europeans	European	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	21	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **spend** | present | Young men and boys |  |  |  | night | often *property* | vn consume-66-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **play** | gerund | whole nights *not said here* | the Iceya |  |  |  |  | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent iceya=Theme |
| 3 | **have** | present | the Iceya | the same hold |  |  |  | upon men *= man*; as dice upon some Europeans | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent hold=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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