Investigating the Factors for the Emergence of a ‘Ugandan Swahili Variety’

Abstract

This paper uses Variationist Sociolinguistic Theory to account for the emergence of the Ugandan Swahili variety. Swahili in Uganda is used by border and interior speech communities (SCs) in day-to-day communication and by Communities of Practice (CoPs) such as the armed forces, Swahili teachers and students. Out of the domains mentioned above, Swahili as used by the CoPs has sporadically been studied. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to examine the emergence of the Ugandan Swahili variety spoken by interior speech communities in Uganda. The data were obtained from interviews with fifteen key informants drawn from Omukishwahiri Zone in Mbarara City in western Uganda, Bweyale Town Council in Kiryandongo District and Kabango Town Council in Masindi District both in mid-western Uganda, Bombo Town Council in Luwero District, Central Uganda, and Arua City in Arua District, west Nile. The Key informant data were corroborated with scholarly and theoretical insights from three academic and archives. Results show that much as multiple factors such as trade, religion, colonial and post-colonial military influences, colonial administration, the influx of refugees in Uganda, and the creation of language identity, were pivotal in the emergence of a Swahili variant unique to Uganda, the dominant influencing factor was Swahili’s long contact with non-Bantu language speakers such as the Nilotics and Nubis.