Uganda is a multilingual country (41 languages). Forty of its living languages can be divided into three main language families: Bantu , Nilotic and Central Sudanese with two others in the Kuljak family. English, inherited from the colonial period, and Swahili , which is of regional importance, are official languages. There is also Ugandan sign language.
A dialect continuum is very common in all Bantu-speaking territories. For example, people around the city of Mbarara in Ankole County speak Nyancol and people from Fort Portal of Toro County speak Tororo , but in the area between these cities, everyone will find a village where most people speak a dialect that is best characterized as an intermediate between Nyancol and tooro. In recognition of the proximity between these 4 languages (Kiga, Nyoro , Nyankole, Tooro), and in order to facilitate their work, such as training, a standard version called “runyakitara” was created around 1990 .
In Central and Southern Uganda , the Bantu languages of Luganda and Soga are largely mutually intelligible .
Of the Nilo-Sahara, the East Sudanese branch is widely represented by various Nilotic languages, eastern and western. East Nilotic languages include karamojong in eastern Uganda (370,000), bari languages on the far northwestern edge (about 150,000), close to the south of Kyoga Lake (999,357), Alurian dialect (459,000), Acholi , Lango , Adhol, kumam in eastern Uganda - the West Nilotian languages Luo (the mutuality of the languages Acholi and Lango, and sometimes the term "Luo" is used to disseminate them). Some South Nilotian-Kalendzhin languages are distributed along the border with Kenya, including Pokot and Elgon languages near the Kupsabin language. The East Ugandan Kulak languages ik and soo are also members of the East Sudanese branch. The languages of Aringa, Lugbar, Madi and NDO in northwestern Uganda are the languages of the central Sudanese branch of the Nilo-Saharan family.
Links
- Uganda Languages at Ethnologue
- Joshua Project (all peoples, languages, etc.)