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Towards assessing the space of English in Uganda’s linguistic ecology

Facts and issues
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Abstract

This chapter analyses the present-day language situation in Uganda with the aim of providing a description of the diversity of Uganda’s languages, and the space of English therein. It examines the degrees of development and vitality, as expressed through speaker numbers and the availability of orthographies, and the geographical and social spaces occupied by the individual languages. Against this background, the chapter discusses how this correlates with the languages’ functions and statuses in present-day Uganda. It demonstrates that whilst English is the de facto sole official language, various indigenous languages, most prominently Luganda and Kiswahili, occupy increasingly stable positions in several domains.

Abstract

This chapter analyses the present-day language situation in Uganda with the aim of providing a description of the diversity of Uganda’s languages, and the space of English therein. It examines the degrees of development and vitality, as expressed through speaker numbers and the availability of orthographies, and the geographical and social spaces occupied by the individual languages. Against this background, the chapter discusses how this correlates with the languages’ functions and statuses in present-day Uganda. It demonstrates that whilst English is the de facto sole official language, various indigenous languages, most prominently Luganda and Kiswahili, occupy increasingly stable positions in several domains.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Ugandan English - challenges to, and food for, current theories 1
  4. Part I - The context
  5. Towards assessing the space of English in Uganda’s linguistic ecology 19
  6. A social history of English(es) in Uganda 51
  7. Part II - Functions of English in multilingual Uganda today
  8. The sociolinguistic situation of English in Uganda 75
  9. Tensions between English medium and mother tongue education in rural Ugandan primary schools 95
  10. Part III - Features of Ugandan English
  11. Diphthongs in Ugandan English 121
  12. Lexical borrowings and calques in Ugandan English 149
  13. The use of the progressive in Ugandan English 173
  14. The use of ditransitive constructions in Ugandan English 201
  15. Speech acts in Ugandan English social letters 227
  16. Part IV - Ugandan English and beyond
  17. Indian English in Uganda 251
  18. Index 275
Ugandan English
This chapter is in the book Ugandan English
https://doi.org/10.1075/veaw.g59.02nam

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Ugandan English - challenges to, and food for, current theories 1
  4. Part I - The context
  5. Towards assessing the space of English in Uganda’s linguistic ecology 19
  6. A social history of English(es) in Uganda 51
  7. Part II - Functions of English in multilingual Uganda today
  8. The sociolinguistic situation of English in Uganda 75
  9. Tensions between English medium and mother tongue education in rural Ugandan primary schools 95
  10. Part III - Features of Ugandan English
  11. Diphthongs in Ugandan English 121
  12. Lexical borrowings and calques in Ugandan English 149
  13. The use of the progressive in Ugandan English 173
  14. The use of ditransitive constructions in Ugandan English 201
  15. Speech acts in Ugandan English social letters 227
  16. Part IV - Ugandan English and beyond
  17. Indian English in Uganda 251
  18. Index 275
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