---
title: This superstition is identical with that which prevents many sailors… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: This superstition is identical with that which prevents many sailors from whistling at sea. Who acts: superstition. 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 68

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This superstition is identical with that which prevents many sailors from whistling at sea.

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**Who acts:** superstition · **What happens:** be, prevent, whistle · **To what, where:** many sailors

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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 (superstition), 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:pg71335:32:68
# text = This superstition is identical with that which prevents many sailors from whistling at sea.
1	This	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	2	det	_	_
2	superstition	superstition	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	identical	identical	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	with	with	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	4	obl	_	_
7	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	8	nsubj	_	_
8	prevents	prevent	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
9	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	sailors	sailor	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obj	_	_
11	from	from	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
12	whistling	whistle	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	8	advcl	_	_
13	at	at	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | this superstition |  |  |  |  | with that; identical *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **prevent** | present |  | many sailors |  |  |  | which *nsubj* | vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer sailor=Theme |
| 3 | **whistle** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | at sea | vn animal\_sounds-38 «NP V PP.stimulus»: agent=Agent at sea=Stimulus |

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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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