Gwere language
Language
title: "Gwere language" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["languages-of-uganda", "nyoro-ganda-languages"] description: "Language" topic_path: "linguistics" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gwere_language" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Language ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox language"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Gwere |
| nativename | (O)lugwere |
| states | Uganda |
| region | Eastern Region |
| ethnicity | Bagwere |
| speakers | |
| date | 2002 census |
| ref | e18 |
| familycolor | Niger-Congo |
| fam2 | Atlantic–Congo |
| fam3 | Volta-Congo |
| fam4 | Benue–Congo |
| fam5 | Bantoid |
| fam6 | Southern Bantoid |
| fam7 | Bantu |
| fam8 | Northeast Bantu |
| fam9 | Great Lakes Bantu |
| fam10 | West Nyanza |
| fam11 | North Nyanza |
| iso3 | gwr |
| glotto | gwer1238 |
| glottorefname | Gwere |
| guthrie | JE.17 |
| :: |
|name=Gwere |nativename=(O)lugwere |states=Uganda |region=Eastern Region |ethnicity=Bagwere |speakers= |date = 2002 census |ref=e18 |familycolor=Niger-Congo |fam2=Atlantic–Congo |fam3=Volta-Congo |fam4=Benue–Congo |fam5=Bantoid |fam6=Southern Bantoid |fam7=Bantu |fam8=Northeast Bantu |fam9=Great Lakes Bantu |fam10=West Nyanza |fam11=North Nyanza |iso3=gwr |glotto=gwer1238 |glottorefname=Gwere |guthrie=JE.17 Gwere, or Lugwere, is the language spoken by the Gwere people (Bagwere), a Bantu people found in the eastern part of Uganda. It has a close dialectical resemblance to Soga and Ganda, which neighbour the Gwere.
Phonology
Consonants
Gwere has 20 consonant phonemes. ::data[format=table title=""] | Bilabial | Labio-dental | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Plosive/ Affricate | Fricative | Nasal | Approximant | |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ::
Vowels
Gwere has ten vowel phonemes, 5 short and 5 long.
::data[format=table]
| Front | Back | Close | Mid | Open |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| :: |
Orthography and alphabet
The Gwere alphabet has 31 letters.
- a - a - [ɑ]
- aa - aa - [ɑː]
- b - ba - [β]
- bb - bba - [b]
- c - ca - [c]
- d - da - [d]
- e - e - [e]
- ee - ee - [eː]
- f - fa - [f]
- g - ga - [g]
- i - i - [i]
- ii - ii - [iː]
- j - ja - [ɟ]
- k - ka - [k]
- l - la - [l]
- m - ma - [m]
- n - na - [n]
- ny - nya - [ɲ]
- ŋ - ŋa - [ŋ]
- o - o - [o]
- oo - oo - [oː]
- p - pa - [p]
- r - ra - [r]
- s - sa - [s]
- t - ta - [t]
- u - u - [u]
- uu - uu - [uː]
- v - va - [v]
- w - wa - [w]
- y - ya - [j]
- z - za - [z]
References
Bibliography
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