English – Luganda Linguistics Dictionary

Mak Press — Thu, 02 Oct 2025 12:18:09 +0000

The Luganda-English Linguistics Dictionary is probably Luganda’s first and most comprehensive specialized dictionary. It is a memorial to the history of teaching and learning Luganda as a subject, which began with the arrival of missionaries in Uganda in 1877 (Anglicans) and 1879 (Catholics). More than two thousand terms representing various concepts from linguistic fields such as phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics, among others, are coined, evaluated, and standardized. The PEGITOSCA criterion guided the creation and harmonization of the terms. PEGITOSCA is a mnemonic reformulation of designating principles of term formation for pPecision, Economy, Generativity, Internationality, Transparency, anti-Obscenity (objectivity), Systematicity, Clarity, and Acceptability. Each of these terms is defined and processed as a dictionary entry, with examples drawn from Luganda or other languages where applicable. It is a guide not only to those teaching Luganda linguistics but also to those teaching Africa’s indigenous languages. We believe that this volume will go a long way toward empowering Uganda’s indigenous languages, especially in the field of linguistics at all levels of education.

Modernisation of Luganda Terminology in the Field of Linguistics

Mak Press — Wed, 30 May 2018 04:58:57 +0000

This book is based on the observation that Luganda’s current lexicon is inadequate when it comes to the expression of scientific concepts that exist in a wide range of specialised fields and forms of discourse. The illogical, unsystematic and inconsistent approach to the development of Luganda linguistic terms currently in use indicates that the modernisation of Luganda scientific terminology is done without a model that guides a terminology elaborator’s thinking in the process of creating terms. Based on this observation, this book provides a decisive examination of the history of terminology development in Luganda especially in the field of Linguistics. It proceeds to develop a comprehensive model which guides the terminology elaborator’s thinking and a style manual which provides a framework for a systematic expansion of the Luganda lexicon. The style manual is anchored on five pillars: Definition and analysis of a term, a standardised rendition of English expression elements into Luganda through the extrapolation of word forms and inventing new affixes, term formation mechanisms, the analogue rule of naming, and the evaluation and acceptability mechanism of a new term. Using both the model and the style manual, 300 linguistic terms in Luganda are coined and tested for acceptability. These terms constitute a potentially acceptable corpus of 300 Luganda linguistic terms which can be used in the teaching and learning of Luganda at both secondary and tertiary levels.

Saudah Namyalo – Makerere University Press

English – Luganda Linguistics Dictionary

Modernisation of Luganda Terminology in the Field of Linguistics