Soga (Lusoga)

Soga is a Bantu language spoken mainly in the Busoga region of southern Uganda, particularly in the Bugiri, Buyende, Iganga, Jinja, Kamuli, Luuka, Mayuge, Namayingo and Namutumba districts. In 2014 there were about 2.96 million speakers of Soga. The speakers are known as Basoga, and the language is known natively as Lusoga. It is closely related to Luganda and Gwere.

Soga was first written during the 19th century. More recently the Lusoga Language Authority (LULA) has worked to standardise written Soga, and has published a number of books, including grammar books, dictionaries, books of stories, and so on. Soga is currently taught in some schools and universities in the Busoga region.

Soga alphabet and pronunciation

Note

c, j and r are used mainly in foreign loanwords.

Download an alphabet chart for Soga (Excel)

Sample text (Lord's Prayer)

Iseife ali mu igulu, eriina lyo litiibwe. Obwakyabazinga bwo bwidhe. By'oyenda bikolebwe mu nsi nga bwe bikolebwa mu igulu. Tughe leero emere yaife eyabuliidho. Tusonighe ebibi byaife, nga bwe tusonigha abatukola ebibi. Totutwala mu kulebwa, aye tulokole mu bubi.

Details provided by Michael Peter Füstumum

Sample videos in Soga

Information about Soga | Numbers | Tower of Babel

Links

Information about the Soga language
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soga_language
http://www.ethnologue.com/language/xog
http://www.academia.edu/1816700/Lusoga_Language_Handbook
http://www.jinja.eu/dictionary

Soga lessons
http://www.ugandavillageproject.org/where-we-work/learn-lusoga/

Bantu languages

Basaa, Bemba, Bulu, Chichewa, Chokwe, Comorian, Digo, Duala, Eton, Ewondo, Fang, Ganda/Luganda, Gogo, Gusii, Gwere, Haya, Herero, Ikizu, Jita, Kamba, Kiga, Kikuyu, Kimbundu, Kinyarwanda, Kirundi, Kisi, Kongo, Konjo, Kuria, Lambya, Lingala, Loma, Lozi, Luchazi, Luvale, Makonde, Makhuwa, Mandekan, Maore, Masaaba, Mbunda, Mende, Mushungulu, Mwani, Nande, Nkore, Northern Ndebele (South Africa), Northern Ndebele (Zimbabwe), Northern Sotho, Nyamwezi, Nyakyusa, Nyemba, Nyole, Nyungwe, OshiWambo, Punu, Ronga, Sena, Shona, Soga, Songe, Southern Ndebele, Southern Sotho, Sukuma, Swahili, Swati, Tonga, Tshiluba, Tsonga, Tswa, Tswana, Tumbuka, Umbundu, Venda, Xhosa, Yao, Zigula, Zinza, Zulu

Languages written with the Latin alphabet

Page last modified: 23.04.21

[top]

---

Why not share this page:

 

If you like this site and find it useful, you can support it by making a donation via PayPal or Patreon, or by contributing in other ways. Omniglot is how I make my living.

 

Note: all links on this site to Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.fr are affiliate links. This means I earn a commission if you click on any of them and buy something. So by clicking on these links you can help to support this site.

[top]