Luganda

Luganda is a Bantu language spoken by the Ganda (Baganda) people in Uganda, primarily in the Buganda region of central Uganda, including the capital city Kampala. It is the most widely used language in that area and functions as a lingua franca in central Uganda. The language is also spoken by Ugandan communities in the diaspora and has borrowed vocabulary from English and Swahili due to long-standing contact.

Luganda belongs to the Niger-Congo language family, within the Bantu subgroup. Like other Bantu languages, it features a noun class system with prefixes that trigger agreement on verbs, adjectives, and pronouns. It is a tonal language, in which pitch can affect meaning. The standard written form uses the Latin alphabet and includes digraphs such as ny to represent specific sounds.

There are regional dialects of Luganda, but a standard form is used in education, media, and formal communication. In Uganda, Luganda is commonly taught in schools in the Buganda region and widely used in radio, television, newspapers, and everyday conversation. The language plays a central role in Buganda cultural life and remains an important part of regional identity, while also serving as a medium for communication across different communities in central Uganda.