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Ugandan English: Its sociolinguistics, structure and uses in a globalising post-protectorate
Edited by Christiane Meierkord, Bebwa Isingoma and Saudah Namyalo
[Varieties of English Around the World G59] 2016
► pp. 251–274

Indian English in Uganda

The historical sociolinguistics of a migrant community

The Indian community in Uganda represents a special case of migration. During the colonial period, there were several major immigration waves that were sociologically and sociolinguistically heterogeneous. In Uganda, Indian migrants were mostly endocentric and concentrated, often with very little interaction with the British elite and the local African populations, and came to represent ‘a society within a society’, economically successful and socially mobile. Their situation changed dramatically, however, when Idi Amin expelled the community in 1972. In this chapter, we look into the social and socio-demographic history of Indian migrants in Uganda and outline its sociolinguistic consequences. We argue that due to their status, they maintained Indian English features and did not accommodate to British or East African varieties.

Keywords: Indian English, language contact, migration, Uganda
Published online: 20 October 2016
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https://doi.org/10.1075/veaw.g59.11rat
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Meierkord, Christiane
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Meierkord, Christiane & Bebwa Isingoma
2022. Between first language influence, exonormative orientation and migration. English World-Wide. A Journal of Varieties of English 43:2 ► pp. 220 ff. DOI logo
[no author supplied]
2023. References. In Sounds of English Worldwide, ► pp. 354 ff. DOI logo

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