Lusoga language

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This article is about the Lusoga language. For the Basoga people/tribe/kingdom, see Busoga.
Lusoga
(Soga or OluSoga)
Spoken in: Uganda 
Region: All over Uganda, but mainly in Busoga region
Total speakers: First language (native speakers): +/- 3 million (2002 cencus)

Second language: +/- 100 000 (2002 cencus) 
Ranking: ~ 136
Language family: Niger-Congo
 Atlantic-Congo
  Volta-Congo
   Benue-Congo
    Bantoid
     Southern
      Narrow Bantu
       Central
        J
         Nyoro-Ganda (J.10)
          Lusoga 
Official status
Official language of: Major language of Uganda, official status unclear/pending...
Regulated by: Lusoga Language Authority (LULA) (Uganda)
Language codes
ISO 639-1: none/pending...
ISO 639-2: xog
ISO/FDIS 639-3: xog
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. See IPA chart for English for an English-​based pronunciation key.

Contents

[edit] Introduction - What is Lusoga?

LuSoga (Soga or OluSoga) is a tonal Bantu language that is spoken in Uganda. In terms of the number of speakers, is one of the major languages spoken in Uganda, after English, Swahili, and Luganda. However, it is mainly spoken in the Busoga region of southern Uganda by +/- 3 million people (2002 cencus), which is mainly within the natural boundaries of Lake Victoria to the south, Lake Kyoga to the north, the Nile river to the west and the Mpologoma (Lion) river to the east of Iganga district. It is tonal in the sense that a given word can change its meaning depending on its tone, i.e. some words are differentiated by pitch. Words that are spelled the same may carry different meanings according to their pitch. Lusoga is rich in metaphors, proverbs and folktales.

[edit] History and Development

Lusoga, the native language of the people of Busoga, developed over time as a spoken language. Its written form is only as recent as the arrival of the Arab and European traders and missionaries. It only until after the second half of the nineteenth century, that Lusoga was first written down and appeared in print in its own right.

The Lusoga language is very similar to Luganda – spoken by the Baganda, especially that spoken by the Ssesse Islanders. It is believed that the people in southern Busoga originally came from Buganda and in the early 14th Century overwhelmed the original inhabitants - the Luo who came from the north and Iteso who came from the north-east. This similarity of language is best depicted by the folklore surrounding the death of Bishop Hannington.

James Hannington (1847-1885) led a Christian expedition into the interior of East Africa aiming to reach the Kingdom of Buganda. Most expeditions to Buganda in those days were made from the east, from Mombassa in Kenya. To reach Buganda, travelers had to go through Busoga. On the orders of the King of Buganda, Hannington was detained by one of Busoga’s chiefs. The chief then received the order to have Hannington killed, which he did. Later probably due to the embarrassment of the wrong their king had ordered, the Baganda alleged they had sent the message ‘mu mute’ (release him – in Luganda), but this had been mispronounced by the Musoga messenger as ‘mu mwete’ (kill him – in Lusoga). The truth of this story is of course still debatable but the tale is still told today.

Lusoga is used in some primary schools in Busoga as pupils begin to learn English, the official language of Uganda.

[edit] Dialects

Linguistically, the Basoga are part of the Bantu speaking group. Originally, Lusoga language comprised of several dialects formed by the intermingling of people during the early migration period, 17th and 18th century. There are so many dialects of the Lusoga language that it is difficult to reach agreement on the correct way to spell or pronounce certain words. For instance, in the north of Busoga, there is a distinct H but people from Southern Busoga do not accept this H as being appropriate to the Lusoga Language. Busoga was mainly divided into two dialect zones. Across the northern part of Busoga, the dialects Lulamogi and Lupakoyo was traditionally spoken. Lupakoyo resembled Runyoro. It had a close belt of Runyoro associated dialects running east from Bunyoro, across the northern region of present-day Buganda, across northern Busoga and through Bugwere east of Busoga. In the southern part of Busoga a dialect known as Lutenga was traditionally spoken which resembled Luganda. Related dialects were spoken in the Ssese Islands, Buvuma Island and eastern Buganda.

But with the established of the Lusoga Language Authority (LULA), Busoga Kingdom has promoted a standard Lusoga language. It has done enough research on the Lusoga language and published several literatures in Lusoga. It publications can be found at Busoga Cultural Centre Offices library located in the Nile garden in Jinja town. Others are available in bookshops throughout Busoga and in major bookstores in Kampala and other parts of the country. Some of the more accomplished Lusoga publications include a Lusoga Bible, grammar books, riddles, proverbs, several story books and dictionaries e.g. English/Lusoga - Lusoga/English dictionary. A limited online version is available at Lusoga - English Dictionary (not fully complete though - as of 22 September 2006).

[edit] Some useful Basic Grammar & Vocabulary

In common with other tonal Bantu languages, Lusoga 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:

[edit] Possessive Prefixes

In the Bantu languages around the Lake Victoria region in Uganda, nouns are reflected mainly by changing prefixes: human beings are indicated by the prefix Ba- (plural), and Mu- (singular), and the name of the country Bu-.

  • mu - person (singular), e.g. musoga = native of Busoga land
  • bu - land, e.g Busoga = land of the Basoga
  • lu - language, e.g. Lusoga = language of the Basoga
  • ba - people, e.g. Basoga = the Basoga people
  • ki - customs or traditions, e.g. kisoga = describes religious tradition or culture common to the Basoga people.

[edit] Self Standing pronouns:

  • Nze – me
  • Iwe/Imwe – you

[edit] Always attached to a verb:

  • N – I
  • O – You (singular)
  • A – He/She
  • Tu – We/Us
  • Mu – You (plural)
  • Ba – They

[edit] Demonstratives:

  • Wano – Here
  • Kino – This (thing)
  • Ono – This (person)
  • Oyo – That (person)
  • Bino – These (things)

[edit] Interrogatives:

  • Ani – Who?
  • Ki – What?
  • Lwaki - Why?
  • Tya – How?

[edit] Greetings:

Greetings in Lusoga depend on who you are greeting and when you last saw him or her. A polite way of greeting for someone you see daily would go as follows:

Person A:
Osiibye otyanno ssebo/nnyabo – Good afternoon sir/madam
Person B:
Bulungi, iwe wasuze/osiibye otyanno ssebo/nnyabo – Fine, and how are you sir/madam (literally ‘Fine, and how was the night/morning sir/madam’)
Person A:
Bulungi ssebo/nnyabo – Fine sir/madam
  • Weebale (nnyo) – Thank you (very much) (to one person)
  • Mwebale (nnyo) – thank you (very much) (to more than one person)

[edit] Introductions:

  • N'nze Nankwanga – I am Nankwanga

[edit] Some common Verbs:

When conjugating the verb, remove ‘oku’ and replace it with the required pronoun i.e. n, o, a, tu, mu, ba.

  • Example:
    • okukola – to work/to do,
      • nkola – I work/do,
      • okola – you work/do,
      • akola – he/she works/does,
      • tukola – we work/do,
      • mukola – you work/do (plural),
      • bakola – they work/do.
  • Okukola – to work/to do
  • Okusoma – to read/to study
  • Okunywa – to drink
  • Okulya – to eat
  • Okutambula – to walk
  • Okuvuga – to drive/to ride
  • Okusobola – to be able to
  • Okutwala - to carry/to take
  • Okuseka - to laugh

[edit] Numbers:

1 - 10 11 - 19 20 - 29 30 - 39 40 - 49
1 – Emu 11 – Ikumi na emu 20 – Abiri 30 – Asatu 40 – Ana
2 – Ibiri 12 – Ikumi na ibiri 21 – Abiri mu emu 31 – Asatu mu emu 41 – Ana mu emu
3 – Isatu 13 – Ikumi na isatu 22 – Abiri mu ibiri
4 – Nnya 14 – Ikumi n'annya
5 – Itaano 15 – Ikumi na itaano
6 – Mukaga 16 – Ikumi n'amukaga
7 – Musanvu
8 – Munana
9 – Mwenda
10 – Ikumi

As long as you learn to count from 1 – 10 and 20, 30, 40,… the rest will be easy. Its just a matter of joining one number to the other...

50 - 99 100+
50 – Ataano 100 – Kikumi
60 – Nkaga 110 – Kikumi mu ikumi
70 – Nsanvu
80 – Kinana
90 – Kyenda

[edit] Telling the Time:

Telling the time in Lusoga is the exact opposite of what it is in English. The English 7 o’clock is Emu of Lusoga, which is one o’clock. Time is said using the word ‘ssaawa’, e.g. ssaawa emu – 7 o’clock.

[edit] Food:

  • Food – Emmere
  • Sugar – Sukaali
  • Coffee – Kaawa
  • Milk – Amata
  • Chicken – Nkoko
  • Teaspoon – Kajiiko
  • Plate – Sowaani
  • Saucepan – Sefuliya
  • Cup – Kikopo

[edit] Genaral phrases & vocabulary:

  • Ssente mmeka – How much (price)
  • (Bed)room – Kisenge
  • Table – Mmeeza
  • House – Ennyumba
  • Kitchen – Ffumbiro
  • Door – Oluggi
  • Chair – Ntebe
  • Wait! – Linda!
  • Journey/trip – Olugendo
  • Get out – Fuluma
  • Tomorrow – Enkya
  • Slow – Mpola
  • Quick – Mangu
  • Mr – Mwami
  • Miss – Mukyala
  • My friend! – Munnange!
  • My friends! – Bannange!
  • Wamsi - Under
  • Senga - Aunt
  • Omuntu - Person
  • Omusaiza - Man
  • Omukazi - Woman
  • Omwaana - Child
  • Omuzungu - White man/white person
  • Taala - Lamp
  • Omwezi - Moon/Month

[edit] References

  • Fallers, Margaret Chave (1960) The Eastern Lacustrine Bantu (Ganda and Soga). Ethnographic survey of Africa: East central Africa, Vol 11. London: International African Institute.
  • Van der Wal, Jenneke (2004) Lusoga Phonology. MA Thesis, Leiden University.
  • Cohen, David William (1970). A survey of interlacustrine chronology. The Journal of African History, 1970, 11, 2, 177-202.
  • Cohen, David William (1986). Towards a reconstructed past : Historical texts from Busoga, Uganda. (Fontes historiae africanae). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • Fallers, Lloyd A (1965) Bantu Bureaucracy - A Century of Political evolution among the Basoga of Uganda. Phoenix Books, The University of Chicago.

[edit] See Also

[edit] External links

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