Gwere | Ethnologue

A language of Uganda

ISO 639: gwr
Alternate Names: Bagwere, Olugwere, oLugwere
Autonym: Lugwere
Population: 621,000 (2014 census), increasing. Census based on tribal affiliation.
Location:: Budaka, Butaleja, Butebo, Kibuku, Mbale, Pallisa, and Sironko districts. Kaliro district (Lamoogi dialect).
Language Status: 4 (Educational).
Classification: Niger-Congo, Atlantic-Congo, Volta-Congo, Benue-Congo, Bantoid, Southern, Narrow Bantu, Central, J, Nyoro-Ganda (E.17)
Dialects: Lamoogi (Lamogi, Lamooji, Lulamogi, Lulamoogi). Lexical similarity: 82% with Lamoogi, 79% with Siki dialect of Soga [xog], 77% with Kenye [lke], 68% with Ganda [lug], 64% with Tenga dialect of Soga [xog]. Lamoogi dialect; 89%–92% with Siki dialect of Soga [xog]; 83%–88% with Kenye [lke], and 81%–82% with Gwere [gwr].
Typology: SVO; lexical and grammatical tone, highly agglutinating, 5 vowels (contrastive vowel lengths), 21 consonants.
Language Use: Very vigorous. Home, village, market, work, church. Used by all. Positive attitudes. Most also use English [eng]. Many also use Ganda [lug]. Used as L2 by Kenye [lke].
Language Development: Taught in primary schools. Literature. Newspapers. Radio. Dictionary. Texts. NT: 2017. Agency: Lugwere Bible Translation and Literacy Association.
Language Resources: OLAC resources in and about Gwere
Writing: Latin script [Latn], used since 2005, in development.
Other Comments: Christian.

Location: Budaka, Butaleja, Butebo, Kibuku, Mbale, Pallisa, and Sironko districts. Kaliro district (Lamoogi dialect).