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APPENDIX C

REGIONAL VERSIONS OF
GREETINGS AND COMMON EXPRESSIONS

AC-1 Greetings

The most common greetings between adults in con-
temporary Aymara may be a simple mama 'ma'am' or tata
‘sir', sometimes suffixed with -ya politive, as in
mama.y and tata.y (Morocomarca and Calacala). The
first syllable appears to have vowel length in Huancané:
ta:ta, ma:ma. The usual greeting by a child to an adult
is tiyu (uncle) or tiya (aunt) in La Paz, and tata.la.y
Or mama.la.y in Morocomarca. According to Vasquez, the
term tatala is derogatory in La Paz and would not be
used there as a term of address, while in Vitocota it
is used by a mother speaking to her son, as is mamala
in speaking to a daughter. In Sitajara tatala and mamala
are said to be used to refer to people from the highlands
(department of Puno).

Apart from tata and mama, the most common greet-
ings are probably Aymarized forms of the Spanish Buenos
dias ('good morning') and Buenas tardes ('good afternoon'),

like the following: