Luganda Language Guide

Where it's spoken

A Luganda grammar by Sternefeld and Nickshere describes Luganda as the most widely spoken language in Uganda, spoken as a first or second language by most people in the central region. Omniglot likewise places its speakers mainly in the Buganda region in southern Uganda and says Luganda is widely used elsewhere in Uganda as a second language.

Uganda's constitution names English as the official language of Uganda and Swahili as the second official language, to be used in such circumstances as Parliament may prescribe by law. It adds that any other language may be used as a medium of instruction, or for legislative, administrative or judicial purposes, as Parliament may prescribe by law.

Sources

• Sternefeld, Leah; Sseguya, Francis Nickshere (2015). A Luganda Grammar — General Introduction to Luganda
• Omniglot — Luganda (Oluganda) language, alphabet and pronunciation — Introduction
• Uganda's Constitution of 1995 with Amendments through 2017 — Comparative Constitutions Project — Art. 6 — official language

Script & pronunciation

Luganda is written in the Latin alphabet. Omniglot says a standard orthography was introduced in the middle of the twentieth century at an All-Baganda Conference. In written Luganda, long vowels and consonants are expressed through double letters, and Omniglot adds that most consonants can be doubled even at the start of a word. This app's card Weebale nnyo ("Thank you very much") shows both: ee for a long vowel and nn at the start of nnyo.

Omniglot lists ŋ as the special letter for the velar nasal sound, as in this app's card Eŋŋoma ("Eŋŋoma (drum)"), and says r is used after e or i while l is used elsewhere, as in the card Eddwaliro liri ludda wa? ("Where is the hospital?"). The grammar notes that the language has no distinction between L and R in speech. A guide for learners calls Luganda a tonal language; the app's cards do not mark tone.

Sources

• Omniglot — Luganda (Oluganda) language, alphabet and pronunciation — Latin alphabet section and notes
• Sternefeld, Leah; Sseguya, Francis Nickshere (2015). A Luganda Grammar — General Introduction to Luganda
• Luganda for Beginners — Resources for Self-Instructional Learners of Less Commonly Taught Languages (University of Wisconsin–Madison) — Pronunciation and writing

Grammar essentials

In Luganda the verb carries a prefix that shows who is acting, so a separate pronoun is added mainly for emphasis. The grammar gives o- for "you" (one person) and mu- for "you" (several people), as in osamba and musamba. The same pair appears in the verb "to be" as oli and muli, which this app uses in its cards Oli otya? ("How are you? (to one person)") and Muli mutya? ("How are you? (to several people, or politely)"). The "or politely" in that gloss is the app's own wording.

Negation is formed by changing the prefix. For the first person singular, the grammar says the prefix n- becomes si-, for example Sigenda mu kibuga ("I'm not going to town"). This app's cards use the same si- form, as in Sitegeera ("I don't understand") and Sisobola kunywa mata ("I cannot drink milk").

A question can be marked by intonation alone, with the same word order as a statement: the grammar contrasts Omanyi oluganda. ("You know Luganda.") with Omanyi oluganda? ("Do you know Luganda?"). A question word such as wa ("where") is most often placed at the end of the sentence, as in Eddwaliro liri ludda wa? ("Where is the hospital?"), which is also the text of an app card.

Luganda nouns are grouped into classes, and the grammar says a verb takes a prefix that depends on the class of its subject: embuzi erya ("the goat eats") and ekinyonyi kirya ("the bird eats") use different verb prefixes. A learner resource counts ten noun classes, noting that this number is somewhat disputed.

Sources

• Sternefeld, Leah; Sseguya, Francis Nickshere (2015). A Luganda Grammar — Pronouns and conjugation tables; The negative; Questions; Class Prefixes
• Luganda for Beginners — Resources for Self-Instructional Learners of Less Commonly Taught Languages (University of Wisconsin–Madison) — Noun classes

Politeness & etiquette

A comparative survey of 33 Bantu languages by Marten and Kula codes Ganda as using class 2 morphology, the class that marks plural nouns of people, to refer to or address a single respected person. The same survey describes a second strategy used in some other Bantu languages, where the plural form of "you" is used for one addressee. The survey's table codes Ganda only for the class 2 strategy, not for the second-person-plural one.

The grammar lists ssebo ("sir") and nnyabo ("madam") among nouns without a class prefix. This app's card Mwattu ("Please") says politeness is also shown by greeting first and by adding Ssebo ("sir") or Nnyabo ("madam"); this is the card's own note, and the grammar only lists the words. The grammar's own example uses mwattu in a request: Bw'oba olina kye weemulugunya, mwattu kuba ku nnamba eno ("If you happen to have something to complain about, please call this number").

Sources

• Sternefeld, Leah; Sseguya, Francis Nickshere (2015). A Luganda Grammar — The Noun (nouns without a prefix); "If" chapter example
• Marten, Lutz; Kula, Nancy C. (2021). Expressing politeness and respect in Bantu languages: A short comparative survey (University of Essex repository) — Section 3.2 and Table 2