Luganda orthography

## Vowels

The five vowels in Luganda are spelt with the same letters as in many other languages (for example Spanish):

* *a* /a/
* *e* /e/
* *i* /i/
* *o* /o/
* *u* /u/

As mentioned above, the distinction between long and short vowels is phonemic and is therefore represented in the alphabet. Long vowels are written as double (when length cannot be inferred from the context) and short vowels are written single.

In certain contexts, phonotactic constraints mean that a vowel must be long, and in these cases it is not written double:

* A vowel followed by a prenasalised consonant
* A vowel that comes after a consonant–semivowel combination—apart from *ggw* which can be thought of as a geminated *w*, and *ggy* which can be thought of as a geminated *y* (although the latter is less common as this combination is more often spelt *jj*)

## Consonants

With the exception of *ny* [ɲ], each consonant sound in Luganda corresponds to a single letter. The *ny* combination is treated as a single letter and therefore doesn't have any effect on vowel length (see the previous subsection).

The following letters are pronounced approximately as in English:

* *b* /b/ (sometimes softened to /β/)
* *d* /d/
* *f* /f/ ("'f' and 'v' are pronounced with the lips slightly pouted")
* *l* /l/
* *m* /m/
* *n* /n/
* *p* /p/
* *s* /s/
* *t* /t/
* *v* /v/
* *w* /w/ ("'w' differs from the English 'w' being much softer")
* *y* /j/
* *z* /z/

A few letters have unusual values:

* *c* /c/
* *j* /ɟ/
* *ny* /ɲ/
* *ŋ* /ŋ/

The letters *l* and *r* represent the same sound in Luganda—/l/—but the orthography requires *r* after *e* or *i*, and *l* elsewhere:

* *alinda* /alíːnda/ 'she's waiting'
* *akirinda* /acilíːnda/ (or [aciríːnda]) 'she's waiting for it'

There are also two letters whose pronunciation depends on the following letter:

* *k* is pronounced [c] (or [tʃ]) before *i* or *y*, [k] elsewhere
* *g* is pronounced [ɟ] (or [dʒ]) before *i* or *y*, [ɡ] elsewhere

Compare this to the pronunciation of *c* and *g* in many Romance languages. As in the Romance languages the 'softening letter' (in Italian *i*, in French *e*, in Luganda *y*) is not itself pronounced, although in Luganda it does have the effect of lengthening the following vowel (see the previous subsection).

Finally the sounds /ɲ/ and /ŋ/ are spelt *n* before another consonant with the same place of articulation (in other words, before other palatals and velars respectively) rather than *ny* and *ŋ*:

* The combinations /ɲ̩ɲ/ and /ɲː/ are spelt *nny*
* The combination /ɲj/ is spelt *nÿ* (the diaeresis shows that the *y* is a separate letter rather than part of the *ny* digraph, and the /ɲ/ is spelt *n* before *y* as in the above rule; in practice this combination is very rare)
* /ŋ/ is spelt *n* before *k* or *g* (but not before another *ŋ*)
* /ɲ/ is spelt *n* before *c* or *j*, or before a soft *k* or *g*

## Alphabet

The standard Luganda alphabet is composed of twenty-four letters:

* 18 consonants: *b*, *p*, *v*, *f*, *m*, *d*, *t*, *l*, *r*, *n*, *z*, *s*, *j*, *c*, *g*, *k*, *ny*, *ŋ*
* 5 vowels: *a*, *e*, *i*, *o*, *u*
* 2 semi-vowels: *w*, *y*

Since the last consonant *ŋ* does not appear on standard typewriters or computer keyboards, it is often replaced by the combination *ng'* (including the apostrophe). In some non-standard orthographies, the apostrophe is not used, which can lead to confusion with the letter combination *ng*, which is different from *ŋ*.

In addition, the letter combination *ny* is treated as a unique consonant. When the letters *n* and *y* appear next to each other, they are written as *nÿ*, with the diaeresis mark to distinguish this combination from *ny*.

Other letters (*h*, *q*, *x*) are not used in the alphabet, but are often used to write loanwords from other languages. Most such loanwords have standardised spellings consistent with Luganda orthography (and therefore not using these letters), but these spelling are not often used, particularly for English words.

The full alphabet, including both standard Luganda letters and those used only for loanwords, is as follows:

* Aa, *a*
* Bb, *bba*
* Cc, *cca*
* Dd, *dda*
* Ee, *e*
* Ff, *ffa*
* Gg, *gga*
* (Hh, *ha*)
* Ii, *yi*
* Jj, *jja*
* Kk, *kka*
* Ll, *la*
* Mm, *mma*
* Nn, *nna*
* (NY Ny ny, *nnya* or *nna-ya*)
* Ŋŋ, *ŋŋa*
* Oo, *o*
* Pp, *ppa*
* (Qq)
* Rr, *eri*
* Ss, *ssa*
* Tt, *tta*
* Uu, *wu*
* Vv, *vva*
* Ww, *wa*
* (Xx)
* Yy, *ya*
* Zz, *zza*

## References

1. ↑ *Luganda Basic Course*, p.20.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Crabtree, William A. (1902) *Elements of Luganda Grammar*, p.13.