Unit 1: Greetings (Mot)

Quote of the week: Swahili is an easy language, its use is widespread, and it may be that there is no easier language to learn. The Late A. B. Hellier, Canon and Chancellor of Zanzibar Acholi is even easier. Adonga Moses and Otto Lucy, Language Writers.

Core Competency: Integrate into the Community

Overview

In this unit you will learn to: Communicative tasks:

• Greet one person • Use correct titles of address • Greet more than one person • Use informal greetings

HIV/AIDS

• Address Care in a dialogue on page 14 • Address Prevention in a dialog on page 18

Safety and Security

• 1D: Identify strategies to reduce vulnerability • 3C: Demonstrate culturally appropriate community integration skills

Grammar

• Subject prefixes • Interrogatives • Pronunciation basics

Culture

• Importance of greetings

Learning to learn

• Learning on your own.

Moto ngat acel

(Greeting one person) Learning Objective: Without the assistance of LTFs, each trainee will apply appropriate greetings according to the time of the day to at least 5 community members of different ages, gender and social status.

Moses tye ka moto Opiyo kidiko.

Moses

        Moses: Itye nining Ladit?
          Opiyo: Atye maber. Kono in?
           Moses: Atye maber.
           Opiyo : Ibutu maber?
           Moses: Abutu maber.

Moses is greeting Opiyo in the morning.

Moses

Moses : How are you sir? Opiyo: I am fine how about you? Moses: I am fine. Opiyo : Did you spend the night well? Moses: I spend it well.

Matayo tye kamoto Diana idyeceng.

Diana Matayo

Matayo: Irii nining, lamego? Diana: Arii maber ladit, kono in? Matayo : Arii maber. Diana: Irii maber? Matayo: Arii maber.

Matayo is greeting Diana during the day.

Diana Matayo

Matayo: Did you spend the day well? Diana: Fine how about you? Matayo : Fine. Diana: How are you? Matayo: I am fine.

Lok manyen (New words)

tye odiko kono in? maber ibutu idye ceng irii nining? to be morning what of you? good, well, nice you spent the night noon; afternoon you spent the day how?

Subject

Prefixes I a- we wa- you i- you all wu- he/she o- they gu- Example: arii (I spent the day) - irii (you spent the day).

Interrogatives

These are some of the interrogative adverbs in Acholi:

• nining? - how? Pingo? - why? Ngo? - what? Nga? - who?(sing.) Kwene? - where?

In iaa ki kwene? - Where do you come from? Itye nining? - How are you?

Lwong nyig lok magi. Rot ki i kompak. Pronounce these words. Check with tape.

Abuto Wan wabuto Abuto maber. Wubuto Wun wubuto Gubuto Gin gubuto

Arii Wan warii Arii maber. Irii Wun wurii Orii Gin gurii

Safety And Security Note

As a safety measure, greetings are an identification strategy that can reduce your vulnerability in the community, because when you greet people you identify with them, thus being accepted as a community member.

Proper use of greetings helps demonstrate your respect for a particular person, as well as for Ugandan culture in general. Greetings will be very important as you move about and get to know your new community, and as they get to know you.

Culture Note Greetings are very important for the Acholi. It is trladitionally extremely rude to pass by people, even if they’re working, without greeting them and showing appreciation of what they are doing.

In Acholi, greetings take the form of a request about the other person’s wellbeing, the past, etc.

Some people greet while shaking hands, and others hug.

Men usually bow their heads slightly as a humble gesture when greeting superiors. Women in most cases kneel when greeting elders and superiors.

It is rude to greet someone older than you with a hat on. In most cases you remove it or at least touch it with a slight lift.

Moto dano mapol

(Greeting more than one person) Learning Objective: Using the local language, each trainee will greet at least 3 groups of people composed of different numbers and gender according to the time of the day. The responses got will enable the trainee to analyze how different people respond to similar or different greetings according to the situatiyon.

To address Care

Adonga tye ka moto Prossy ki Lucy:

Adonga Prossy Lucy Adonga: Wurii wunu maber, anyira? Prossy & Lucy: Warii maber, ladit. Kono in? Adonga: Atye maber. Prossy & Lucy: Dano gang tye nining? Adonga: Gitye gire maber, ento Mary aye kome lit. Prossy & Lucy : Two ango? Adonga: Two aona apio. Prossy & Lucy: Pwod wanen! Wek kong wacit watere i ot yat. Adonga: Ber. Prossy & Lucy: Aya. Pwod wanen.

Adonga is greeting Prossy and Lucy:

Adonga Prossy Lucy Adonga: How are you girls? Prossy & Lucy: We are fine sir how about you? Adonga: I am fine. Prossy & Lucy: How are people at home? Adonga: They are fine,but mary is ill. Prossy & Lucy : What ailment? Adonga: TB. Prossy & Lucy: Alright see you! We should hury and take her to the hospital. Adonga: Fine. Prossy & Lucy: Ok we shall see you again.

Lok manyen

Wurii wunu warii anyira ladit gang gi tye nining? ento kome lit aona apio ot yat you (pl) have spent the day we have spent the day girls sir home, at home how are they? but he/she is sick TB. hospital; health center

Culture Note Titles of address: It is always good to use titles of address when greeting people as it is a sign of great respect. Note: ‘Ladies and gentlemen’, in Acholi, is ‘mon ki coo’. Traditionally, it shows greater respect for men.

Winy kompak ka i pong kama twolo. Listen to the tape and fill in the blanks.

Ibuto nining, _____________________?

An abuto maber. ________ kono?

An abuto ___________________.

Dano ma _____________ tye nining?

Dano ______________ maber, kono wun?

Wan bene watye __________________.

________________ ber.

Ber _______________ warwate.

Lwong nyig lok man.Rot ki i kompak. Pronounce these words. Check with tape.

Apwoyo ba? Apwoyo wunu ba? Dano tye maber? Ber. Ibuto? Icoo?

Pronunciation

/ ny / and / ng / /ny/ as in nyanya is pronounced as a soft n and is different from n. /ng/ as in ngec is pronounced as the English word England.

Informal Greetings

Learning Objective: Using the immediate community members, each trainee will use culturally acceptable informal greetings to at least 3 individuals and 2 groups of people. Each trainee will write 5 dialogues as practiced with the above people.

Joshua tye ka moto Wess

Joshua : Nining, Wess? Wess: Atye maber. Wacii? Joshua: Mapol pe.

Joshua is greeting Wess

Joshua : Hello, Wess? Wess: Hello any news? Joshua: Nothing much.

Joshua tye ka moto Wess ki Recco

Joshua: Wutye wunu maber? Wess gin ki Recco : Watye Kono in? Joshua : Atye maber. Ningo wunu? Wess ki Recco: Ningo pe.

Joshua Wess Joshua Wess Joshua Wess Recco

Joshua is greeting Wess and Recco

Joshua: How are you all? Wess gin ki Recco : Fine how about you? Joshua: I am fine any news? Wess ki Recco: Nothing much.

Lok manyen

-tye Atye wutye wunu maber Atye maber “to be” (is/are) I am you (pl.) are well I am okay (lit. I’m there).

To address prevention:

Abel tye kaboko lok gin ki Ben

Abel: Ngo manyen? Ben: Ginmo ku. Wacaa? Wiken tye kaciti nining? Abel: Maber. Onongo atye wan ki Jane. Ben: Meno ber. En tye nining? Abel: Tye maber. Medde wunu anyim momot kumeno. Ben: Oh, oh, en oye me buto kwedi? Abel: Pe, wabikuru naka wang ma wanyome. Ben: Meno ber. An ka abutu ki anyaka na, atiyo ki roc bol.

Joshua Wess Recco

Lok manyen

wiken onongo watye wan ki anyaka medde anyim motmot buto ku kuru naka nyom atiyo ki roc bol weekend I was with girl continue ahead; in front slowly to sleep, to go to bed no to wait until; up to marriage I use condom.

Listen to the tape and check boxes that apply to each dialog. Winy kompak ka igwet canduk ma rwate ki nyig lok acel acel.

Morning Afternoon Formal Informal Singular Plural Dialog A       Dialog B       Dialog C       Dialog D       Dialog E       Dialog F      

Pronunciatiyon

k= x In Acholi, k is sometimes pronounced as a glotal when it appears in between two vowels as in loch in English. For example, lwoko (washing), tuku (game).

Find examples of the pronunciation rules above in the dialogs in this unit. Write them down and read them out loud correctly. Try to record yourself and compare your pronunciation with your teacher.

Culture Note It is appropriate to use formal greetings when greeting people in the morning or when greeting somebody for the first time in a day. After that informal greetings can be used. Friends can use informal greetings most of the time. However, when greeting superiors, formal greetings are used.

Find out the informal greetings used by different groups, e.g children, women, youth, etc. Community task

Learning on Your Own

Why? No matter how many hours you spend in the classroom, no matter how good your teacher, or how colorful your text book, at the end of the day it is you who has to do the learning.

There is no book in existence that covers all aspects of a language and even if there was you would spend years in class studing with it. Therefore, learning how to learn more on your own may well be the most valuable skill any class can give you. This is even more obvious in Uganda, a country of over 30 languages and dialects. It is quite possible that even though you need one language for work, the people in your village speak a different dialect or even a completely different language.

How? At the end of some units, you will find hints and assignments that will help you become an independent learner.

Interspersed throughout this language manual are assignments called Explorer’s Diary. They give you specific independent language learning assignments related to the language.

Setting Goals: Setting realistic goals is what successful learners do well. Use the space below to sketch your own objectives. You will be asked later to reassess your goals.

Date:

Why do you want to learn Acholi?

What do you want to be able to do in five weeks?

Where do you want to be at the end of PST?

What level do you eventually want to reach in Acholi?

Acholi