A preliminary description of Ugandan English

ABSTRACT The present paper aims at describing the English variety spoken in Uganda through a discussion of its main phonological as well as morphological features that can be traced back to contact‐induced change. Luganda as the main lingua franca in Kampala as well as other languages such as Acholi have had a strong impact on speakers’ phonological realizations as well as on certain morphological structures that can be found in Ugandan English today. This does not solely concern borrowing strategies of structural and lexical elements, but also various cases of calquing. Furthermore, insights into syntactic change as well as pragmatics (that reveal Luganda‐like politeness patterns) conclude the brief description of modern Ugandan English.