Lugbara language

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Lugbara
Spoken in:	Uganda, DR Congo
Total speakers:	1,040,000
Language family:	Nilo-Saharan Nilo-Saharan Central Sudanic East Moru-Madi Central Lugbara
Language codes
ISO 639-1:	`--`
ISO 639-2:	`--`
ISO 639-3:	`lgg`
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode.

The Lugbara language is the language of the Lugbara ethnic group. It is spoken in northwestern Uganda's west Nile District, as well as the Democratic Republic of the Congo's Orientale Province.^[1] Lugbara was first written by Christian missionaries in 1918, based on the Ayivu dialect. In 2000, a conference was held in the city of Arua in northwestern Uganda regarding the creation of a standardised internationalorthography for Lugbara. In 1992, the government of Uganda designated it as one of five "languages of wider communication" to be used as the medium of instruction in primary education; however, unlike the other four such languages, it was never actually used in schools.^[2]

Aringa language, also known as Low Lugbara, is closely related, and sometimes considered a dialect of Lugbara.^[3] Some scholars classify Lugbara language itself as a dialect of the Ma'di language, though this is not generally accepted.^[4]

[edit] See also

Districts of Uganda

[edit] References

^ Gordon, Raymond (2005). "Lugbara language". Ethnologue: Languages of the World. Dallas, Texas: SIL International.
^ Da Fonseca, N.. "Writing unwritten languages". . UNESCO
^ Douglas Boone, Richard Watson, 1999. "Moru-Ma'di Survey Report." SIL Electronic Survey Reports SILESR 1999-001.
^ Blackings, Mairi; Nigel Fabb (2003). A Grammar of Ma'di. Mouton de Gruyter, p. 1. ISBN 3110179407.