Teso Language - The Alphabet

The Alphabet

(ⅰ) There are twenty two letters in the Ateso alphabet F,H,Q,V,H,X and Z are not used and η 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.

(ⅱ)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:

E as in beg (French é): aipet----- to kick

I as in seat: aidip----- to hit

O as in Scottish pronunciation of bone (French eau): aimor----- to insult, to abuse

U as in fool: aikut----- to scratch the earth, to scoop something

Open vowels are pronounced approximately as follows:

E as in beg (French è): aipet ----- to lay out

I as in sit: ailid----- to fasten

O as in gone (or in glory when long): aimor----- to share

U as in full: aikut -----to blow

A is pronounced as in art (never short as in ram)

abal 'to say'

Note that whether the root vowel is "closed" or "open" affects the conjugation of the verb.

(ⅲ) 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 -----(behind) is pronounced "kah-oo" not "kow".

(iv) 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:

elosete aηor togo ----- the women are going to the house

but is pronounced: elosete aηoro Togo

If the word following is normally written as one with the preceding word, the "shadow" vowel is not only pronounced but written:

e.g. elosete aηoroke togo ----- his women are going to the house

Other examples are given in (vii) below.

(v) There are sixteen consonants and one semi-vowel in Ateso, pronounced approximately as follows:

B as in bat: bobo -----again

C as in chat (never as in cat): elacet ----- key

D as in dog: edou ----- rain

G as in get (never as in geology): agasia rubbish/trash

J as in jam: aijar life

K as in king: ekek door

L as in let: alalau width

M as in mat: mam ----- no

N as in nut: ainu ------ to hug

η** as in hanger (never as in finger): iηai ----- who

NY as in Spanish Señorita: anya ----- grass (plural)

P as in put: papa ----- father

R as in rat (should be well rolled): erute ----- gate

S as in service : aisab ----- to tell lies

T as in toss: toto ----- mother

y as in yellow: yoga ----- hello

Semi vowel:

W as in win: awasia ----- the end, aiwosa ----- to prosecute

(vi) 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.

Thus mesa -----table (Kiswahili) becomes e-mesa

oki-fuga -----to rule (Luganda) becomes ai-puga

(vii) 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 (iv) above must be inserted between the consonants.

E.g. (Omission of one consonant)

Nen-pe-nen 'just there' is written and pronounced nepenen.

(Insertion of "shadow" vowel)

ηon-tuηa-nan 'every man' is written and pronounced: ηonituηanan

Elacet-kon 'your key' is written and pronounced elacetekon

**Due to the introduction of typesetting & word processing machines, η is now almost entirely written NG. It is only in old literature that η still appears. The fact that in some works the two letters NG are found together in place of η is no exception to the above rules. These two letters are merely an alternative representation of the sound η, in the same way as the letters NY represent one sound. The semi-vowel W, however, can and frequently does follow a consonant:

aswam work

ekwam air