Угандадағы Соға тілі

Bantu language spoken in Uganda

Soga, or Lusoga, is a Bantu language spoken by the Soga people of the Busoga region in Eastern Uganda. With over three million speakers, it is one of the major languages of Uganda, after English, Swahili, and Luganda. However, it is largely restricted to the Busoga region, 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 Namutumba district. It is tonal.

The Soga language is very similar to the neighbouring languages Luganda and Gwere as all 3 descend from a common ancestor language (Proto North Nyanza). The written form of Soga is only as recent as the arrival of the Arab and European traders and missionaries. It first appeared in print in the second half of the nineteenth century. Soga is used in some primary schools in Busoga as pupils begin to learn English, an official language of Uganda. It is also taught in secondary schools and is offered as a course subject in tertiary institutions such as Busoga University, Kyambogo University and Makerere University.

Soga has several dialects dating to the intermingling of people during the early migration period of the 17th and 18th centuries. There were so many dialects that it was difficult to reach agreement on the correct way to spell or pronounce certain words. For instance, in the north of Busoga, there is an 'H' in many words which does not appear in dialects of southern Busoga. Thus Busoga was divided into two dialect zones. Across the northern zone, the dialects Lulamogi and Lupakoyo were spoken. Lupakoyo closely resembled Nyoro. It had a close belt of Runyoro associated dialects running east from Bunyoro, across the northern region of Buganda, across northern Busoga and through Bugwere, which is east of Busoga. In the southern part of Busoga a dialect known as Lutenga was traditionally spoken which resembled Luganda. Related dialects were also spoken in the Ssese Islands, Buvuma Island and eastern Buganda. But with the establishment of the Lusoga Language Authority (LULA), Busoga Kingdom has promoted a standardised Lusoga language. It has done research on the Lusoga language and published literature in Lusoga. Its publications can be found at the Busoga Cultural Centre Offices library located in the Nile garden in Jinja, Uganda. 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. Eibwanio English/Lusoga – Lusoga/English dictionary. A limited online version is available.

BilabialLabio dentalDentalAlveolarPalatalVelarGlottalplainlab. pal. plainlab. plainlab. pal. plainlab. pal. plainlab. Plosivevoiceless voiced prenasal vl. prenasal vd. Nasal Fricativevoiceless voicedprenasal vl. prenasal vd. FlapSemivowel
Sounds in parentheses are attested, but rare.

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:

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 Soga'
lu language, e. g. Lusoga 'language of the Soga'
ba people, e. g. Basoga 'the Soga people'
ki customs or traditions, e. g. kisoga describes religious tradition or culture common to the Soga people.

Hours of darkness in Soga correspond to p. m. to include early morning hours. Essentially, the number representing the current hour simply subtracts six from the number in English. A Musoga waking up at what English speakers would call 10:15 a. m. would instead say essawa erii ikumi na ibiri munkyo ('the time is 4:15 in the morning'). Time is said using the word essaawa, e. g., essaawa ndala – 7 o'clock.