Lexical and grammatical features of Ugandan English
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Date
2014
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
English Today
Abstract
English plays an important role in the lives of
Ugandans. For example, official government
records are written in English, Parliament conducts
its business in English, national newspapers are
written in English. English is the medium of
instruction from elementary to tertiary level.
English is a lingua franca among people of different
ethnic groups whose mother tongues are mutually
unintelligible, especially if they cannot use
Luganda or, to some extent, Swahili.
Most Ugandans learn English at school.
Whereas the principles of English language teaching
and learning in the Ugandan school syllabuses
are purportedly drawn from Standard English
(henceforth StE), deviations in everyday usage
are unquestionably visible. Hence, as Fisher
(2000: 61) puts it, the variety of English spoken
in Uganda has been ‘indigenized’. Apart from featuring
prominently in spoken discourse, Ugandan
English (henceforth UgE) is also noticeable in
Ugandan print media, official documents, and
even in books written in Uganda. We should note
that while there are significant pronunciation differences
in UgE across the different regions in
the country, Fisher (2000: 59) rightly contends
that there are generally uniform grammatical and
lexical features of UgE throughout the country.
Description
Keywords
Grammatical features, Ugandan English
Citation
Isingoma, B. (2014). Lexical and grammatical features of Ugandan English: The paper highlights the lexical and grammatical features of Ugandan English and discusses the factors underlying the development and widespread use of this non-native variety of English. English Today, 30(2), 51-56. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0266078414000133