Phonological variation in Mbugwe and the implications for orthography development

I will be reporting on the results of a language survey done in April 2022 in five Mbugwe villages, which aimed to investigate pronunciation differences for certain groups of words. Previous research concluded that there are not significant enough differences to identify separate Mbugwe dialects. The survey in April 2022 supports this finding, nevertheless, there are differences in how people speak and this research seeks to describe these differences with a view to proposing a spelling system which will be acceptable to all Mbugwe speakers. Note: This talk has not gone through a process of peer review, and findings should therefore be treated as preliminary and subject to change. Acknowledgement and citation: Poole, Lizzie. 2023. Phonological variation in Mbugwe and the implications for orthography development. Talk given at the Rift Valley Network Webinar Series. 03/05/2023.