Ugandan English

Uganda is located in East Africa with a population of about 35 million. Today, 41 languages are spoken in Uganda, of which Luganda is dominant in the Central region (and also widely learnt and used as a lingua franca throughout the country), Lusoga and Lumasaaba in the Eastern, Runyankore and Rukiga in the Western and Ateso, Lango and Acholi in the Northern region. English was first introduced in Uganda when the Buganda kingdom was declared a British Protectorate in 1894. Today, it serves as a co-official language (with Kiswahili) and as a lingua franca among Ugandans of different first language background. This is particularly the case in Uganda's capital, Kampala. Here, English is also used at the level of local councils, whose multilingual members frequently conduct their debates in English, and where political campaigns are held in English. Moreover, English is now used in domains that were previously those of local languages, such as music and creative writing.

The fact that English is the main medium of instruction from late primary (year 5) onwards, combined with the government's policy of free primary and secondary education, has also tremendously increased the number of Ugandans speaking English as a second language.

As first language influence comes from the diverse indigenous languages, Ugandan English differs from other East African varieties that are mainly influenced by Kiswahili. To create a basis for a precise description of Ugandan English informed by authentic data, we have been collecting the Uganda component of the International Corpus of English, since 2013. Together with colleagues based at Gulu University (Dr. Bebwa Isingoma) and at Makerere University (Dr. Saudah Namyalo, Dr. Judith Nakayiza, and Dr. Medadi Ssentanda), we have published our findings in a volume on Ugandan English in 2016 and a number of research papers (see "Publications").

Using this data and supplementing it with other evidence, we aim to understand how Ugandan English is shaped by its historical development, its speakers' first languages and by exogenous influence caused by increasing globalisation and technological advances (Internet & mobile communication). We take Ugandan English as one case that allows us to investigate and understand the processes and products that shape English as a lingua franca in post-protectorate contexts and how this differs from more canonical, post-colonial settings.