Teso language


Teso is an Eastern Nilotic language spoken by the Iteso people of Uganda and Kenya. It is part of the Teso–Turkana language cluster.
According to the 2002 Uganda population and housing census, over 1.57 million people in Uganda spoke Ateso. Also, an estimated 279,000 people in Kenya speak the language. Its SIL code is TEO.
Ateso is spoken in the Teso sub-region.

Alphabet

There are 22 letters in the Ateso alphabet F,H,Q,V,H,X and Z are not used and ŋ and NY are added. F,H,Q,V,H,X,Z only appear in loan words. The pronunciation guides that follow are for practice only; the correct sounds can only be learned by practice from a teacher or an audio media.
There are five vowels in Ateso

A, E, I, O, U.

These five letters, however, represent more than five sounds, for the letters E, I, O and U have two values each; a "close" value and an "open" value.
Close vowels are pronounced approximately as follows:
Open vowels are pronounced approximately as follows:
Note that whether the root vowel is "closed" or "open" affects the conjugation of the verb.
Where the vowels AI or OI stand together, they represent sounds approximating the "i" in bite and "oy" in annoy respectively. In other vowel combinations, both vowels must be given their full values. The "au" in kau ----- is pronounced "kah-oo" not "kow".
All words ending in a consonant possess a semi-mute or "shadow" vowel after the final consonant, which is not pronounced when the word stands in isolation, but which is pronounced when the word is followed by another word beginning with a consonant:
e.g. The Ateso translation of "the women go to the house" is written:
but is pronounced: elosete aŋoro Togo
If the word following is normally written as one with the preceding word, the "shadow" vowel is not only pronounced but written:
Other examples are given in below.
There are sixteen consonants and one semi-vowel in Ateso,
pronounced approximately as follows:
Semi vowel:
In words of foreign origin introduced into Teso the missing sound F is replaced by P and the missing sound V by B or P. Z is replaced by S.
It is an invariable rule that two consonants can never stand together in the same word. Both in speech and in writing. When word construction brings two consonants together, either one of the consonants must be dropped or the "shadow" vowel mentioned in sub-paragraph above must be inserted between the consonants.
E.g.
**Due to the introduction of typesetting & word processing machines, ŋ is now almost entirely written NG. It is only in old literature that ŋ still appears. The fact that in some works the two letters NG are found together in place of ŋ is no exception to the above rules. These two letters are merely an alternative representation of the sound ŋ, in the same way as the letters NY represent one sound. The semi-vowel W, however, can and frequently does follow a consonant:

Pronunciation

The correct pronunciation of these letters when formed into words can only be learned by practice. As a general rule, all syllables should be given equal stress, though the stem or root syllable often carries slightly more stress than other syllables. Stress does not,however, affect the length of the vowel stressed or its pitch or tone. It is equally important to note that syllable pitch plays a vital part in correct pronunciation and that many words, which are spelled identically, have a different meanings according to syllable pitch.
For example:

Orthography

The spelling used in most of the first published Ateso books is in accordance with the official orthography agreed upon by the Ateso Orthography Committee in 1947. It was then accepted as a general principle that all words should be written in full even though normally contracted in speech. It should be particularly noted that a short -a or -e at the end of a word is dropped in speech when the word is followed by a word beginning with a vowel.
Recently, it is evident that the spoken language is continuing to move away from the written language especially in most parts of Uganda. This means that some aspects of orthography may well need revision soon.
While the Iteso of Tororo district in Uganda and Teso district in Kenya retain the letter k in the spoken language, the Iteso in most other areas of Uganda tend to omit it in most of the words.

Basic lexicon

Hello – yoga

How are you? – Ijai biai, Ijaasi biai

Fine, and you? – Ejokuna, arai ijo?

Fine – ejokuna

What is your name? – Ingai bo ekon'kiror?

My name is... – Eka'kiror...

Name ---
Ekiror

Nice to see you. ---
Eyalama ewanyun

See you again ---
Awanyunos bobo

Book – Eitabo

Because – Naarai
The first sentence in the bible can be translated as Ageunet, abu Edeke Kosub akwap keda akuj.

Gender and noun prefix

As with many other languages, Ateso words have grammatical gender. For grammatical purposes all nouns in Ateso are divided into three classes or genders: masculine, feminine and neuter.

Noun prefix

Every noun in Ateso has a prefix which varies according to the gender of the noun or according to whether the noun is singular or plural. Nouns starting with "E" or "O" are usually masculine. Those starting with "A" are feminine while those that start with "I" are neuter. See table below for details.
masculinefeminineneuter
singulare,oai
plurali,oai
e.g.etelepat → itelepai
'		apese → apesur
'		ikoku → idwe
'

The only exception to the above rule are certain nouns denoting relationships and directions.

e.g. toto ----- mother; papa ----- father; mamai ----- uncle; inac ----- sister ; ija ----- aunt

It should, however, be noted that the noun prefix is always dropped when the noun comes after the following pronouns or adjectives and their feminine, neuter or plural forms:
pronoun or adjectiveexamples
ece, ace, ice – other, another;


ngol or ngin – every
edio, adio,

idio – any, some
ediope, adiope – one
ecetunganan – another man; aceberu – another woman;

icetunganan -another person; icetunga -other people

etunganan – a man; ngolitunganan -every man;
aberu – a woman; nginiberu – every woman
ediotunganan -any man; adiopese -any girl; idiokoku – any child
adiopeberu – one woman; ediope kiliokit bon''' -only one man

The following is a general classification of most nouns.

Masculine nouns

The masculine nouns are:
Names of male beings:

e.g. ekingok – dog
Names of most trees and fruit

e.g. eloa* – mvule tree
Names of insects:

e.g. esirut – mosquito
Names of non-indigenous liquids:

e.g. ecaai ----— tea

Feminine nouns

The feminine nouns are:
Names of female beings:

e.g. akingok – bitch


Names of languages and countries:

e.g. Ateso ----— the Teso language

Names of indigenous liquids:

e.g. ajon ----—local cereal brew

Abstract nouns:-

e.g. ajokus----—goodness



Verbs used as nouns:

Neuter nouns

The neuter nouns are:
Names of neuter or generic objects:

e.g. ituŋanan ----- person



Names of diminutive objects:

e.g. ikiŋok ----- puppy

Plural

To form the plural the ending of the noun is changed. This change may consist of the omission of the last syllable, the addition of another syllable or syllables, or the alteration of the last syllable or syllables:
In the case of masculine nouns the noun prefix also changes as shown in the table on noun prefix above.



These changes in the endings of nouns are so irregular that it is not worth while trying to formulate rules for the formation of plurals.



Certain nouns, however, which are derived from verbs, form their plurals according to rules;
Nouns denoting an agent of action form a singular ending in -an or -on and a plural ending in -ak or -ok:
e.g. ekamejan – hunter ; ikamejak – hunters; ekecokon – herdsman; ikecokok – herdsmen;



Nouns denoting something which does or, is done, form a singular ending in -et or -etait and a plural ending in -eta:



e.g. elacet – key; ilaceta – keys; arapetait – cover
arapeta -covers;



Some nouns have no singular and exist only in the plural:

e.g. akipi—-water; ajony – local brew; asinge – sand; ajo – sleep; ileic – shame



Other nouns have no plural and exist only in the singular;

e.g. ekuron – ashes; akoloŋ—sun; adam – brain; eduan – weeds



Abstract nouns and names of diseases, as in English, have no plural.

e.g. aiyalama -happiness; amin -love.



Some nouns form their plural from other roots:

e.g. aberu – woman, aŋor -women; ikoku -child, iduwe – children.



Some nouns, in addition to the normal plural, form a generic plural by adding -sinei to the plural form:

e.g. etuŋanan - man, ituŋa - men; ituŋasinei - mankind

Article

There is no definite or indefinite article in Teso. Aberu means "a woman" or "the woman" according to the context.

Adverbs

Adverbs clarify the action of a verb.Interrogative adverbs usually follow the verb they qualify.
But if the interrogative adverb is strengthened by the particle BO, the adverb must precede the verb

Adverbs of place

Ai/aibo= where?

nen =there

Ngina = over there
Lailo, laije =this way, that way.

Juwai/Juwayi = at the back of / that way/that side
Ajesan = down there.
Nelwana/ne alwanan =far off
Eyapye/eyapiei/eyapie = near
Toma =inside

Kiding =in the middle/between

Kau = behind

Ngaren = in front
Osiep = near/on the side of/beside
Diye = very close
teten = right
Kediany = left
Kide = East

Too = West

Nyakoi = North

Agolitomei / Ongalakimak = South

Numerals

Ateso numerals are from ones place to hundredth place. Numerals upwards from one thousand are borrowed from other languages.
Numbers from one to five are the basis of the whole numerical system in Ateso.
Six is literally translated as 5+1, 7 as 5+2, etc.
In the same way 16 is 10+5+1, 17 is 10+5+2, 21 is 20+1, 26 is also 20+5+1, etc.
Numerals agree in gender with the noun they define:

e.g. itelepai iuni three boys, ikekia iuni three doors, imeesan iuni three tables
Numerals always follow the noun. ediope can however, precede, in which case the noun prefix is dropped.

e.g. edioperot one road/way; adiopeberu one woman;
††The word for zero, esupur, is no longer used in the spoken language. Instead enoot, a loanword derived from the English naught is generally used.

Cardinal numbers

Ordinal numbers

are formed from cardinal numbers by prefixing the relative forms lok-, nak-, yenik- as appropriate, to the masculine form of the numeral and by adding -et after the numeral.

e.g. akany five, nakikanyet fifth
No.MasculineFeminineNeuter
1stlosoditnasodityenisodit
2ndlokiareitnakiyareityenikiyareit
3rdlounietnaunietyeniuniet
4thlowoŋonetnawoŋonetyeniwoŋonet
5thloikanyetnaikanyetyenikanyet
6thloikanyet apenaikanyet apeyenikanyet ape
7thloikanyetaarenaikanyetaareyenikanyetaare
8thloikanyetauninaukanyetauniyenikanyetauni
9thloikanyetaaŋonetnaikanyetaaŋonetyenikanyetaaŋonet
10thloitomonetnaitomonetyenitomonet
11thloitomonetadipenaitomonet adiopeyenitomonetadiope
50thloakaisakanynakaisakanyyenakaisakany
100thloakwatatnaakwatatyenakwatat
lastlo agolonnagolonyenagolon

‡ a majority of Iteso do not pronounce some ks in speech.
Thus, nakikanyet is pronounced naikanyet, etc.

Loanwords

Ateso has taken a number of loanwords, primarily from English and Swahili languages.
Words marked with an asterisk indicates that the last letter in the Ateso word is silent.
EnglishAteso-
CarEmotoka
TelevisionEtelevision
RadioEredio
Fax MachineAfakis Mashin
E-mailE-emeilo *
InternetE-intanet
ComputerAkompiuta
Telephone++Esimu *
Record PlayerArekod puleya
CD PlayerAsidi puleya
DVD playerAdividi puleya
discAdisiki *
--

++The Ateso word for a telephone that most Ateso speakers are familiar with is the word "Esimu" which comes from Luganda.