WHO PERFORMS TONGUE TWISTERS?

    Nandwa and Bukenya associated tongue twisters with the young members of the society who provided both the performance and the audience. However, tongue twisters were and are still said by both the young and the old members of the society who have mastered the language well.

PERFORMANCE.

         Tongue twisters have no opening or closing formula. The performer merely lets his audience know that he wishes to say a tongue twister after arranging the words with the same or almost the same starting sounds and then says it quickly. He may decide to say it again slowly depending on whether he wishes his audience to learn it. Sometimes tongue twisters can be in the form of songs, which are sung.

AUDIENCE.

        This can be made up of young and old members of the society, as well as strangers to the society. Tongue twisters do not pose a problem to the audience which may call for answering. Rather it calls for the audience to be listeners and imitators of what the performer says. The audience, mostly active, tries to repeat what the performer says but at a low speed and then faster after some practice.

WHERE AND WHEN ARE TONGUE TWISTERS PERFORMED?

        Tongue twisters can be performed at any place and time. In the past however, the old members of the society interacted with the young around the fireplace in the evenings where tongue twisters formed part of the entertainment exercise. Today, tongue twisters are said everywhere where human beings are gathered. The youth say them at school or when performing less concentrating chores like looking after cattle.