Conversational strategies in Acholi

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Gerrit J. Dimmendaal
• Subject Area: Applied Linguistics, Computational Linguistics ; African, American and Oceania Studies
• Term: from 2014 to 2018
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 248985744

The main goals of the research proposal are the documentation and analysis of conversational strategies in the Nilotic language Acholi (Uganda). This goal is to be attained through the investigation of different text genres (in particular dialogues and narrative discourse) as well as ritualised speech (e.g. greeting strategies). Preferences in discourse strategies among Acholi speakers and their conversational routines are to be investigated in relation to factors that influence these routines. In order to achieve this, the main focus will be on actions and reactions among interacting speakers, in order to find out which socializing and distancing strategies are available and how these are used. The role played by gestures as additional strategies is another factor which will be investigated to the extent possible within an in-deep documentation and analysis.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants