A sociolinguistic analysis of verbal greetings, address forms and paralinguistic behaviours in Kisubi
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Date
2021
Authors
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Journal ISSN
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Publisher
Fеdегаl State Institution of Science Institute of Linguistics of the Russian Academy of Sсiеnсеs
Abstract
This paper analyses the greeting system of Kisubi. It specifically seeks: to identify temporal greeting patterns in Kisubi; to determine whether age and gender do dictate the kind of verbal greetings, address forms and paralinguistic behaviours that are used in particular greeting events; to examine different kinship-specific verbal greetings, address forms and paralinguistic behaviours that are used in particular greeting events; and lastly, to assess the role of context in the Kisubi greeting system. Observation and face-to-face interview methods were used to gather data from 36 participants who were obtained using snowball sampling technique, and afterwards they were stratified into different strata depending on age, gender and educational status of a person. This stratification led to the attainment of authentic data. The obtained data were subjected to content analysis from which different themes emerged. It was established that there are four temporal chunks in Kisubi, each of which is associated with its own greeting term. Age, gender, context and kinship relations also determine the type of greeting terms and the honorifics or deferential terms to use. However, the use of honorifics and/or deferential terms is declining gradually.
Description
Full-text article: Also available at: https://doi.org.10.37892/2686-8946-2021-2-1-41-61
Keywords
Genuflecting, Squatting, Paralinguistic Behaviour, Greetings, Honorifics, Gender, Age, Kisubi, Subi
Citation
Rwakakindo, I. D. (2021). A sociolinguistic analysis of verbal greetings, address forms and paralinguistic behaviours in Kisubi. Language in Africa, 2(1), 41-61.