Gwere, or Lugwere, is the language spoken by the Gwere people (Bagwere), a Bantu people found in the eastern part of Uganda. It has a close dialectical resemblance to Soga and Ganda, which neighbour the Gwere.
Phonology
Consonants
Gwere has 20 consonant phonemes.[3]
| Bilabial | Labio-dental | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive/ Affricate |
p b | t d | t͡ʃ d͡ʒ | k g | |
| Fricative | β | f v | s z | ||
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | |
| Approximant | w | l | j |
Vowels
Gwere has ten vowel phonemes, 5 short and 5 long.[4]
| Front | Back | |
|---|---|---|
| Close | i iː | u uː |
| Mid | e eː | o oː |
| Open | ɑ ɑː |
Orthography and alphabet
The Gwere alphabet has 31 letters.[5]
- a – a – [ɑ]
- aa – aa – [ɑː]
- b – ba – [β]
- bb – bba – [b]
- c – ca – [c]
- d – da – [d]
- e – e – [e]
- ee – ee – [eː]
- f – fa – [f]
- g – ga – [g]
- i – i – [i]
- ii – ii – [iː]
- j – ja – [ɟ]
- k – ka – [k]
- l – la – [l]
- m – ma – [m]
- n – na – [n]
- ny – nya – [ɲ]
- ŋ – ŋa – [ŋ]
- o – o – [o]
- oo – oo – [oː]
- p – pa – [p]
- r – ra – [r]
- s – sa – [s]
- t – ta – [t]
- u – u – [u]
- uu – uu – [uː]
- v – va – [v]
- w – wa – [w]
- y – ya – [j]
- z – za – [z]
References
- ^ Gwere at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ^ Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online
- ^ Nzogi 2006, p. 10.
- ^ Nzogi 2006, p. 12.
- ^ Nzogi & Diprose 2012a.
Bibliography
- Akinlabi, Akinbiyi (1995). Theoretical approaches to African linguistics. Africa World Press. ISBN 0-86543-463-8.
- Nzogi, Richard Kijjali (2006-06-15). Lugwere Phonology Statement (PDF). Dallas, TX: SIL International. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2024-01-16.
- Nzogi, Richard; Diprose, Martin (2012a). “The Lugwere Alphabet”. Lugwere Dictionary. Entebbe, Uganda: Lunyole Language Association.
Further reading
- Kagaya, Ryohei (2005). “Gūere-go no meishi to meishishūshoku-go no onchō katachi bunseki” グウェレ語の名詞と名詞修飾語の音調形分析 [A tonal analysis of nouns of the Gwere language]. Journal of Asian and African Studies. 69: 123–176. doi:10.15026/20216.
- Kayaga, Ryohei (2006). A Gwere Vocabulary. Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa (ILCAA), Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. ISBN 9784872979282.
- Ndoboli, Titus (1994). The tense system of Lugwere (MA thesis). Kampala: Makerere University.
- Nzogi, Richard (2009). Disambiguating grammatical tone in Gwere orthography by using clarifying words (PDF). SIL electronic working papers (SILEWP). Vol. 2009–003. SIL International. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2020-03-22.
- Nzogi, Richard; Diprose, Martin (2012b). “EKideero ky’oLugwere Lugwere Dictionary / Lugwere- English with English Index”. Entebbe, Uganda: Lunyole Language Association.
- Schoenbrun, David Lee (1997). The Historical Reconstruction of Great Lakes Bantu Cultural Vocabulary: Etymologies and Distributions. Rüdiger Köppe Verlag. ISBN 9783896450951.
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