Symboler
54Klik på et symbol for at kopiere det og åbne dets side.
Ateso alphabet
One row per letter in alphabetical order, capital then small. F, Q, X and Z are not in the list; nothing carries an accent, because tone is not written.
Quotation marks
Ateso follows Ugandan and Kenyan English punctuation: double curly quotes outside, single ones inside, and ’ as the apostrophe.
Where it's spoken
Eastern Uganda first, then Busia County in Kenya. The Ugandan and Kenyan shillings have no Unicode sign of their own; prices are written USh 5,000 or KSh 500.
From Teso life
The ox plough of Teso farming, finger millet for atap (millet bread) and ajon (millet beer shared through long straws), and groundnuts, a staple crop of the region.
På kortet
Indlæser…
The Ateso alphabet: 29 symbols in the revised orthography
Ateso is the language, Iteso the people and Teso their homeland; all three names share the root -teso. The Atɛsɔ Local Language Board’s revised 2014 orthography has 29 base symbols: 20 consonants (b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, ng, ny, p, r, s, t, v, w, y) and nine vowels (a, e, ɛ, i, ɨ, o, ɔ, u, ʉ).
Ateso is tonal: pitch distinguishes some words, though traditional spelling generally leaves tone unmarked. The Atɛsɔ Local Language Board’s revised 2014 orthography adds ɛ, ɨ, ɔ and ʉ, uses superscript vowel forms for shadow vowels, and marks tone in certain past-tense verb forms. Those characters and the curly quotation marks “ ” ‘ ’ are useful to copy when your keyboard lacks them.
Many Ateso words begin with a vowel that marks the grammatical gender of the noun: e- for masculine, a- for feminine and i- for many plurals. You can see it in the names themselves: an Etesot is a Teso man, an Atesot a Teso woman, the Iteso are the people, and Ateso is their language.
Teso language greetings and first words
The everyday greeting is Yoga!, hello, made warmer as Yoga noi; noi means "very" or "much". Thanks is Eyalama, and Eyalama noi is thank you very much, a phrase people often look up. Ejok means good or fine, so Ejok noi is the answer when someone asks how you are.
Two words people often search for are akipi, water, and apese, a girl. Both begin with a-, the usual initial vowel for feminine nouns in the traditional orthography.
How to type Ateso quotes on a keyboard or phone
The revised Atɛsɔ orthography includes ɛ, ɨ, ɔ and ʉ, as well as superscript vowels; quote shortcuts help with punctuation. On Windows, hold Alt and type 0147 for “, 0148 for ”, 0145 for ‘ and 0146 for ’ on the number pad; Word and most phone keyboards turn straight quotes into curly ones by themselves. On a Mac, Option[ gives “, OptionShift[ gives ”, Option] gives ‘ and OptionShift] gives ’.
On an iPhone or Android phone, long-press the quote key to pick the curly forms. In HTML the entities are “ ” ‘ and ’. Ateso follows Ugandan and Kenyan English punctuation: double quotes outside, single quotes inside.
Where the Teso language is spoken
Ateso is spoken in the Teso sub-region of eastern Uganda, around Soroti, Kumi, Ngora, Serere, Katakwi, Amuria and Bukedea, by smaller Iteso communities further south near Tororo, and across the border in Kenya's Busia County, in Teso North and Teso South. CLDR estimates about 2.4 million speakers in all: roughly 1.9 million in Uganda and 430,000 in Kenya. Many Iteso are multilingual, though second languages vary by country; a study reports English or Luganda in Uganda and Swahili in Kenya. The Uganda and Kenya collections have the flags and country emoji.
Ateso is an Eastern Nilotic language. Its closest relatives are Karamojong, Turkana, Jie and Toposa, which together with Ateso are often called the Ateker languages, and it is more distantly related to Maasai and to the Southern Nilotic Kalenjin. It is not related to Ganda or Soga, its Bantu neighbours, nor closely to Luo, the Western Nilotic language spoken nearby in Kenya.
How to use them
5 situationsKlik for at kopiereAteso Alphabet combos
11Godt at vide
- The Iteso cultural leader is called the Emorimor, in full Emorimor Papa Iteso, and heads the Iteso Cultural Union.
- Teso farmers took up the ox plough early in the twentieth century, when cotton became the region's cash crop; ox ploughing is still used there.
- Search for "Iteso" and you may land in Mexico: ITESO is also the Jesuit university of Guadalajara, whose name is an acronym that has nothing to do with the Teso people.
- Ateso, Karamojong and Turkana are close enough that the peoples who speak them are often grouped together as the Ateker peoples, and their vocabularies overlap heavily.
Ofte stillede spørgsmål
7What is the Ateso alphabet?
The 2014 Atɛsɔ Local Language Board guide sets out 29 base symbols: 20 consonants, including ng and ny, and nine vowels: a, e, ɛ, i, ɨ, o, ɔ, u and ʉ. It also uses superscript vowel forms and marks tone in some past-tense verb forms.
How many letters are in the Ateso alphabet?
The revised 2014 orthography lists 29 base symbols: 20 consonants and nine vowels. Its vowel set includes ɛ, ɨ, ɔ and ʉ.
What are greetings in the Ateso language?
Yoga! is hello and Yoga noi a warmer hello. Ejok noi (very good) is the reply to how are you, and Eyalama or Eyalama noi says thank you.
How do you say thanks in the Teso language?
Eyalama means thank you, and Eyalama noi means thank you very much.
Where is the Teso language spoken?
In the Teso sub-region of eastern Uganda, around Soroti and Kumi, and in Busia County in western Kenya. CLDR estimates about 2.4 million speakers, roughly 1.9 million in Uganda and 430,000 in Kenya.
Is Ateso the same as Karamojong?
No, but they are close relatives in the Eastern Nilotic family, together with Turkana, Jie and Toposa, and share much vocabulary.
What is the difference between Ateso, Iteso and Teso?
Ateso is the language, Iteso are the people (an Etesot is a man, an Atesot a woman), and Teso is the region of eastern Uganda they come from.
