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Luganda, also known as Ganda, is a Bantu language and is spoken mainly in the Buganda region of Uganda by a population of over three million people. With 100,000 second language speakers, it is the most widely spoken second language in Uganda next to English. The language is used in some primary schools in Buganda as pupils begin to learn English, the official language of Uganda. Current distribution of Human Language Families Most languages are known to belong to language families. ...
Map showing the distribution of Niger-Congo languages The Niger-Congo languages constitute one of the worlds major language families, and Africas largest in terms of geographical area, number of speakers, and number of distinct languages. ...
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In the classification of African languages, Volta-Congo is the major branch (in terms of number of languages) of the Niger-Congo phylum. ...
The Benue-Congo group of languages constitutes the largest branch of the Niger-Congo language family, both in terms of sheer number of languages, of which 938 are known (not counting mere dialects), and in terms of speakers, numbering perhaps 550 million. ...
In the classification of African languages, Bantoid is a branch of the Benue-Congo subfamily of the Niger-Congo phylum. ...
ISO 639-1 is the first part of the ISO 639 international-standard language-code family. ...
ISO 639-2:1998 Codes for the representation of names of languages — Part 2: Alpha-3 code Twenty-two of the languages have two three-letter codes: a code for bibliographic use (ISO 639-2/B) a code for terminological use (ISO 639-2/T). ...
ISO 639-3 is in process of development as an international standard for language codes. ...
The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is a system of phonetic notation devised by linguists to accurately and uniquely represent each of the wide variety of sounds (phones or phonemes) used in spoken human language. ...
Phonetics (from the Greek word φωνή, phone = sound/voice) is the study of sounds (voice). ...
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This is a concise version of the International Phonetic Alphabet for English sounds. ...
The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ...
Bantu is a language family that belongs to the Niger-Congo group. ...
Buganda is the kingdom of the 52 clans of the Baganda people, the largest of the four traditional kingdoms in present-day Uganda. ...
The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ...
History and development Luganda, the native language of the people of Buganda, developed over the centuries as a spoken language. Its written form is only as recent as the arrival of the Arab and European influence among the Baganda. It is not easy, and of course it is not within the scope of this discussion, to trace its origins, but it is proper to assume that in a dynamic society with such well structured cultural, social, and political institutions like those of the Baganda, the language must have experienced a reciprocal influence during most of the changes the society went through over the course of its history. It was not however, until after the second half of the nineteenth century, that Luganda was first written down and appeared in print in its own right. The following discussion is neither meant to be a grammar nor a dictionary of the language. The focus is solely on how the language is written (i.e. transcribing sound into alphabetic characters). The first writing clearly was a pilot venture, an improvisation by the early missionaries, who tried to put the language in a written form so that their work among the Baganda would be made easier. The creation of written Luganda words mainly depended on the interpretation and impression that the ears of these foreign listeners, had of the Luganda word sounds. It was not surprising that Speke spelt Kyabaggu (Chabagu). Looking at the earlier prints by various writers such as Speke, Stanley and others would confirm the suspicion that each wrote according to the interpretation his ears perceived. It was therefore necessary to undertake a serious study of the sounds in the Luganda language in order to be able to formulate a proper phonetic system that would help in transferring the sound of words into proper alphabetical symbols that would be meaningful in written form.
The first writers however, were faced with a problem since many of them were not linguists and the Luganda language was starkly different, without any linguistic similarity with their mother tongues. It became an academic adventure for them, trying to correlate the linguistic features of their native languages with the sounds they were simply detecting in the Luganda words. These efforts were necessary because the task of imparting the Christian norms and social standards of their home base to the Baganda demanded a system of communication in a medium that was natural and easily understandable in Buganda. A system of writing in vernacular was therefore developed and for the first time the Luganda word sounds were represented in alphabetical symbols.
Phonology The phonology of Luganda is rich in geminate consonants and distinctions between long and short vowels. In phonetics, gemination is when a spoken consonant is doubled, so that it is pronounced for an audibly longer period of time than a single consonant. ...
In linguistics, vowel length is the duration of a vowel sound. ...
In linguistics, vowel length is the duration of a vowel sound. ...
Consonants The table below gives the consonant set of Luganda, grouping voiceless and voiced consonants together in a cell where appropriate, in that order. In phonetics, a voiceless consonant is a consonant that does not have voicing. ...
A voiced consonant is a sound made as the vocal cords vibrate, as opposed to a voiceless consonant, where the vocal cords are relaxed. ...
- The liquids r and l are actually allophones but since the distinction is reflected in the orthography and is generally recognised by native speakers, they are shown here as separate phonemes.
In phonetics, a bilabial consonant is a consonant articulated with both lips. ...
In phonetics, labiodentals are consonants articulated with the lower lips and the upper teeth, or viceversa. ...
Dentals are consonants such as t, d, n, and l articulated with either the lower or the upper teeth, or both, rather than with the gum ridge as in English. ...
Alveolar consonants are articulated with the tongue against or close to the superior alveolar ridge, which is called that because it contains the alveoli (the sockets) of the superior teeth. ...
Postalveolar (or palato-alveolar) consonants are consonants articulated with the tip of the tongue between the alveolar ridge (the place of articulation for alveolar consonants) and the palate (the place of articulation for palatal consonants). ...
Palatal consonants are consonants articulated with the body of the tongue raised against the hard palate (the middle part of the roof of the mouth). ...
Velars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue (the dorsum) against the soft palate (the back part of the roof of the mouth, known also as the velum). ...
A stop or plosive or occlusive is a consonant sound produced by stopping the airflow in the vocal tract. ...
A nasal consonant is produced when the velum—that fleshy part of the palate near the back—is lowered, allowing air to escape freely through the nose. ...
In phonetics, a trill is a consonantal sound produced by vibrations between the articulator and the place of articulation. ...
Fricatives (or spirants) are consonants produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together. ...
Affricate consonants begin like stops (most often an alveolar, such as or ), but release as a fricative such as or (or, a couple languages, into a fricative trill) rather than directly into the following vowel. ...
Approximants are speech sounds that could be regarded as intermediate between vowels and typical consonants. ...
Laterals are L-like consonants pronounced with an occlusion made somewhere along the axis of the tongue, while air from the lungs escapes at one side or both sides of the tongue. ...
Liquid consonants, or liquids, are approximant consonants that are not classified as semivowels (glides) because they do not correspond phonetically to specific vowels (in the way that, for example, the initial in English yes corresponds to ). The class of liquids can be divided into lateral liquids and rhotics. ...
In phonetics, an allophone is one of several similar phones that belong to the same phoneme. ...
Elements of orthography In 1947, an All-Baganda Conference was convened which recommended a Standard Orthography of Luganda. The recommended standard was accepted by the Buganda Government as well as the Protectorate Government and it has governed the written form of Luganda since then. In order to develop such standards special attention must have been paid to the phonetic features in Luganda taking into account the sound units; their tones, syllabic intonations (the stress on various syllables), the recognizable sound pitches and any linguistic features that had to be addressed before launching Luganda into an acceptable written form. In this discussion we shall try to examine a few of the fundamental features of the word sounds in Luganda and how they are interpreted and reflected in a written word form.
Vowels The Luganda Language is basically transcribed into five vowel sounds which are represented in the five alphabetical symbols: a, (as in attempt) e, (as in employ) i, (as in import) o, (as in only) u, (as in blue)
These are the only sound symbols that create meaning in any written Luganda word. Without them, the consonants do not convey any meaningful communication. The vowels however, on their own can represent communicative sound symbols. For example;
'aa.' (Symbol of showing or demonstrating) 'ee?' or 'uu?' (form of answering) 'ii!' or 'oo!' (exclamation remarks).
The vowels are called "enjatuza" (letters that make sound in a word) or "empeerezi" (letters that serve the consonants with sounds to create words). Luganda vowel sounds can be either short or long. In general, the short sound is represented by a single vowel while the long sound is represented by double vowels. Note that the double vowel denotes a long sound, as opposed to a repetitive sound. Let us cite a few examples;
'a' in bana vs baana (four vs children). The 'a' is short in bana but long in baana. 'e' in sera (dance the dance of the wizards) vs seera (overcharge). The 'e' is short in sera but long in seera. 'i' in sira (mingle, 'herbal') vs siira (walk slowly). The 'i' is short in sira but long in siira. 'o' in kola (work or do) vs koola (weed, 'verb'). The 'o' is short in kola but long in koola. 'u' in tuma (send) vs tuuma (name, 'verb'). The 'u' is short in tuma but long in tuuma.
It is important to note that changing the length of the vowel sound in general also changes the meaning of the word as the above examples clearly illustrate. Since Luganda follows a 'cv' (consonant/vowel) pattern in its word order, vowels are critical ingredients in every written word.
Exception: A long vowel is not written double when it occurs at the beginning or end of a word. For example, we write abo (those - the a is long). However, an exception to the exception is yee (yes). Note that words consisting of vowels only are not affected by this.
Alphabet The Luganda alphabet is composed of twenty-four letters:
17 consonants: b, p, v, f, m, d, t, l, r, n, z, s, j, c, g, k, 5 vowels: a, e, i, o, u, 2 semi-vowels: w, y, Since the last consonant does not appear on standard typewriters or computer keyboards, it is often replaced by the combination ng' - including the apostrophe! (Note that in some non-standard authographies, the apostrophe is not used, which can lead to confusion with the distinct and different sound arising from the letter combination ng). In addition, the letter combination ny is treated as a unique consonant.
Details regarding pronunciation and orthography are given in the section on speaking/writing Luganda.
Noun classes In common with other Bantu languages, Luganda has a noun class system in which prefixes on nouns mark membership of one of the noun genders. Pronouns, adjectives, and verbs reflect the noun gender of the nominal they refer to. Some examples of noun classes: In linguistics, grammatical genders, also called noun classes, are classes of nouns reflected in the behavior of associated words; every noun must belong to one of the classes and there should be very few which belong to several classes at once. ...
- mu - person (singular), e.g. muganda = inhabitat of the Ganda kingdom
- bu - land, e.g Buganda = land of the Ganda (Ganda kingdom)
- lu - language, e.g. Luganda = language of the Ganda
- ba - people, e.g. Baganda = Ganda tribe
- ki - customs or traditions, e.g. kiganda describes religious tradition common to the Ganda people.
Buganda is the kingdom of the 52 clans of the Baganda people, the largest of the four traditional kingdoms in present-day Uganda. ...
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