Lumela/Lumela: A Socio-Pragmatic Analysis of Sesotho Greetings

Abstract

This paper is a study of a very significant aspect of day-to-day interactional discourse of the Basotho sociolinguistic community of Southern Africa: the phenomenon of greeting. The study examines the types and structural organization of Sesotho greeting sequence and the sociolinguistic factors that account for this structuring. It also considers the functions of greetings in the overall life of the people. The analysis has shown that greeting is a normal sociolinguistic routine meant for the establishment of interpersonal relationship and also a serious business of topic introduction and development in Sesotho, since it involves knowing about the welfare of the person being greeted, his/her family relations and friends. It also suggests that deference to age, context of situation and time are powerful factors in the organization of Sesotho greetings. Finally, the data has shown in some respects that there is a similarity between the types and structuring of Sesotho greetings and those of the Yoruba, Setswana, Shona and Arabic.