Temporal deictics in the Arsi-Bale dialect of Oromo

Abstract

This study investigates how temporal deictics—expressions used for locating the time points of actions or states of being—are encoded in the Arsi-Bale dialect of Oromo in south east Ethiopia. The data were gathered from recorded interviews of native speakers, and field notes. Introspection was also employed for verification. The data collected were transcribed, analyzed, categorized and interpreted. The findings of the qualitative research show that the dialect encodes temporal deictics lexically, in a composite manner and grammatically. Lexical temporal deictics are either simple, restricted (specified with modifiers) or extended. In respect of composite encoding, time specifications and words of various classes are used in a syntactic structure. Grammatical encoding involves inflection and periphrasis for marking aspect/tense. Deriving names for new born babies from parts of the day at which those babies were born (appellative temporal deictics) and using some temporal deictics for metaphoric purposes are interesting features of the Arsi-Bale dialect.