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Item A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF LEBLANGO AND FRENCH VOWEL SOUNDS: IMPLICATIONS FOR LEBLANGO SPEAKERS OF FRENCH AS A THIRD LANGUAGE(2026-10-08) Opio BoscoThis study, titled “A Comparative Study of Leblango and French Vowel Sounds: Implications for Leblango Speakers of French as a Third Language (L3)”, compared the vowel systems of Leblango and French and examined their impact on French vowel pronunciation by L1 Leblango speakers. The analysis was conducted using the parameters of vowel height, backness, rounding, nasality, and distribution. The study employed a descriptive survey and comparative research design within a framework combining the Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis and Autosegmental Phonology. Data were collected from 20 advanced French speakers from the Lango sub-region, selected via purposive sampling. The study used audio-recorded conversational modules and reading activities. French reference data were sourced from the Corpus de Français Parlé Parisien des années 2000 (CFPP2000). The findings reveal that Leblango and French share the oral vowels /a, e, ɛ, i, ɔ, o, u, ə/ and the nasal vowels /ɔ̃/ and /ɛ̃/. The primary differences are the presence in French of front rounded vowels /y/, /ø/, /œ/ and the distinct nasal vowels /œ̃/ and /ɑ̃/, which are absent in Leblango. These similarities could be said to have facilitated the accurate pronunciation of shared French vowels, such as /i/ in si and /ɔ̃/ in bon. Conversely, the differences could be said to have led to systematic challenges, resulting in substitutions like the realization of /y/ as [u] in tu and /œ̃/ as [ɛ̃] in un. The study recommends that French language teachers in the Lango sub-region familiarize themselves with both vowel systems and adopt pedagogical methods that explicitly address these phonological contrasts, and utilize targeted listening, pronunciation exercise, and contrastive drills to enhance learners' proficiency.Item PROFILING SLANG EXPRESSIONS IN LANGO(Gulu University, 2025) KONI AUGUSTINEThis study sought t o profile slang expressions in Lango. The study was carried out in the Langosub-region, an area where Lango is spoken as a native language and currently made up of ten political units of nine districts and one city. It was guided by three specific objectives which were: to provide an inventory of common slang expressions in Lango, to establish the sources of slang expressions in Lango, and to find out the attitude of Lango people towards slang use in Lango. The study used a mixed methods approach and a cross-sectional design, descriptive and comparative designs. The study used purposive sampling, stratified sampling and simple random sampling methods. Data was collected through conversational modules carried out with nine categories of slang users and focus group discussion which was held once with slang users and once with elders. Data was analysed using MS Excel for quantitative data while content analysis was applied for qualitative data. The findings of the study were that there are a number of slang expressions within Lango and they are continuously evolving within the language. The sources of the slang expressions are mainly three, which are: coinage, semantic extensions, and borrowing, where coined slang are formed through processes like coinage, affixation, clipping,acronym/initialism, and modelling from old expressions, but coinage forms the highest percentage of Coined slang in Lango. The attitude of Lango people is generally positive about slang use and development provided that the slang expressions are positive and meant for use by everyone. The study recommended that the Ministry of Education and Sports, through the National Curriculum Development Centre should use the findings of this study to make necessary amendments on the Lango curriculum to accommodate slang expressions for the benefit of the students who are already well versed in slang use; Lango Cultural Foundation should depend on the findings of this study to spearhead mindset change towards slang among the categories of native speakers who may not yet be aware of the positive elements of slang, so as to adopt a positive attitude and embrace the positive use of slang as a linguistic phenomenon, while other researchers should adopt a literacy-based approach to finding out more about slang writing, since this study focused on the oral aspect.Item THE LINGUISTIC LANDSCAPE OF ADVERTISEMENT IN SOROTI CITY: A CASE STUDY OF MTN UGANDA AND AIRTEL UGANDA TELECOMMUNICATION COMPANIES(Gulu University, 2026-10-13) EBOGU FRANCISThis study examined the linguistic landscape of advertisement in Soroti City, focusing on MTN Uganda and Airtel Uganda telecommunication companies. Business domains in Soroti City display multilingual practices that are reflected in commercial signage. (Hu, 2022), offers a broad conceptual synthesis of linguistic landscape scholarship but leaves insufficiently theorized role of commercial advertising as a multimodal space where linguistic resources jointly construct meaning. This study extended that conceptual understanding by examining the patterned deployment of such resources in MTN Uganda and Airtel Uganda advertisement in Soroti city. The study was sought: to examine the patterns of the linguistic landscape of telecommunications advertising in Soroti City; to assess the stylistic features of the language used in their advertisements; and establish the relationship between the linguistic landscape in Soroti City and Uganda’s language policies and practices. Anchored in the Linguistic Landscape Theory by Landry and Bourhis (1997), the study employed a qualitative approach supported by descriptive and comparative designs. The findings for Objective One showed that patterns of the linguistic landscape of telecommunication advertising were evident in terms of dominance, with English more widely used than Ateso and other indigenous languages, and in the distribution of signage, MTN was more prominent than Airtel. Multilingual practices were also noted among others. For Objective Two, the study established that advertisements employed stylistic features such as code-mixing, humor, imagery, syntactic variations, and typographic choices. Regarding objective three, results revealed a correlation between Uganda National Language Policy and advertising practices, including the reflection of cultural context, recognition of English as the official language, and the incorporation of indigenous languages. The study recommends the promotion of indigenous languages in advertising, the enforcement of ethical standards, and strengthening awareness of Uganda’s language Policy among advertising stakeholders, while also suggesting that future research adopt quantitative or mixed methods to complement qualitative findings.Item A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE PHONOTACTICS OF ENGLISH AND ACHOLI: IMPLICATIONS FOR THE PRONUNCIATION OF ENGLISH BY NATIVE SPEAKERS OF ACHOLI(Gulu University, 2024) OPIYO ROBERTThis study is titled “A comparative study of the phonotactics of English and Acholi: Implications for the pronunciation of English by native speakers of Acholi.” The objectives of the study were to establish the relationship between the English and Acholi phonotactics and examine the impact of this relationship as regards the pronunciation of English words by L1 Acholi speakers. The study assessed these phonotactic features based on the syllable structure, syllable types and syllable boundaries involving selected English and Acholi words. The study used 80 respondents, who were selected using stratified and simple random sampling. It was conducted based on the descriptive survey and comparative designs, using both the quantitative and qualitative orientations, couched within the contrastive theoretical analysis and the transfer theory. The study used reading activities and semi-structured interviews (conversational modules), which were audio–recorded, as well as a questionnaire survey and library search methods. The study findings showed that both English and Acholi share the phonotactic elements under consideration, i.e. syllable structures (e.g. /gw/ in gwok /gwok/ ‘dog’ and guava /gwɑ:və/), syllable types (e.g. CCVC in dwön /dwɔn/ ‘voice’ and twin /twɪn/) and syllable boundaries (e.g. CV.CV in lëla /lɛ.la/ and baker /beɪ.kǝ/). Essentially, Acholi and English differ in syllable structures (e.g. /pr/ in prank /præŋk/), syllable types (e.g. CCCVCC in sprint /sprɪnt/) and syllable boundaries (e.g. ambisyllabic ‘tenor’). In addition, the findings showed that as a result of the similarities and differences between the phonotactics of the two languages, the Acholi L2 speakers of English were able to produce native-like pronunciations of English words based on the parameters syllable structure (e.g. eat /i:t/), syllable types (e.g. twin /twɪn/) and syllable boundaries as in ‘victim’ /vɪk.tɪm/ (CVC.CVC). By contrast, as far differences are concerned, the Acholi L2 speakers had challenges in the pronunciation of words in relation to syllable structure as in ‘servants’, which was pronounced as /savan/ or /savanz/, and syllable types (e.g. ‘twelfth’ pronounced as /twelf/). The study recommends that the English language teachers should endeavor to be conversant with the phonotactics of both languages, which they should teach learners, using relevant teaching methods and learning aids.Item A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF LEBLANGO AND FRENCH VOWEL SOUNDS: IMPLICATIONS FOR LEBLANGO SPEAKERS OF FRENCH AS A THIRD LANGUAGE(Gulu University, 2026) Opio BoscoThis study, titled “A Comparative Study of Leblango and French Vowel Sounds: Implications for Leblango Speakers of French as a Third Language (L3)”, compared the vowel systems of Leblango and French and examined their impact on French vowel pronunciation by L1 Leblango speakers. The analysis was conducted using the parameters of vowel height, backness, rounding, nasality, and distribution. The study employed a descriptive survey and comparative research design within a framework combining the Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis and Autosegmental Phonology. Data were collected from 20 advanced French speakers from the Lango sub-region, selected via purposive sampling. The study used audio-recorded conversational modules and reading activities. French reference data were sourced from the Corpus de Français Parlé Parisien des années 2000 (CFPP2000). The findings reveal that Leblango and French share the oral vowels /a, e, ɛ, i, ɔ, o, u, ə/ and the nasal vowels /ɔ̃/ and /ɛ̃/. The primary differences are the presence in French of front rounded vowels /y/, /ø/, /oe/ and the distinct nasal vowels /oẽ/ and /ɑ̃/, which are absent in Leblango. These similarities could be said to have facilitated the accurate pronunciation of shared French vowels, such as /i/ in si and /ɔ̃/ in bon. Conversely, the differences could be said to have led to systematic challenges, resulting in substitutions like the realization of /y/ as [u] in tu and /oẽ/ as [ɛ̃] in un. The study recommends that French language teachers in the Lango sub-region familiarize themselves with both vowel systems and adopt pedagogical methods that explicitly address these phonological contrasts, and utilize targeted listening, pronunciation exercise, and contrastive drills to enhance learners' proficiency.Item DIALECTAL VARIATIONS IN LEBLANGO: THE CASE OF LIRA, OTUKE AND ALEBTONG DIALECTS(Gulu University, 2025) ADAR FELIXABSTRACT This study, which is within the field of sociolinguistics, aimed at examining the dialectal variation in Leblango, considering the case of Lira City, Otuke and Alebtong districts. According to Shareah et al. (2015), dialectal variation refers to differences in speech patterns within the same language, often influenced by geographic, social, and cultural factors. These variations can manifest themselves in pronunciation (phonology), vocabulary (lexicon), and grammar (syntax). Over time, different regions or communities develop distinct dialects, even though they share a common language. The study sought to establish phonological, lexical and grammatical variations in Leblango. It used cross-sectional and descriptive designs, guided by a combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches. Purposive and simple random sampling techniques were used to identify participants from Lira City, Otuke and Alebtong districts. The study used a questionnaire survey, conversational module guide and focus group discussion guide (which involved pronouncing a list of Leblango words and reading sentences, and writing an essay) meant to determine the different levels of variations typical of each district. These instruments of data collection provided both qualitative and quantitative data. The data was analysed using the Microsoft Exel, and content analysis which took care of the qualitative data. The study found out that there were variations in Leblango regarding how certain words are pronounced, the use of particular words and grammatical aspects. This study was grounded in Labov’s (1963) Variationist Sociolinguistics theory and Chambers and Trudgill’s (2004) Dialectal Continuum theory. The study recommends that future studies on Leblango should focus on its syntax, tense behavior, and nominal structures. Additionally, teaching efforts should prioritize correct spelling, as some irregularities were notable in participants’ essays, while others stem from a lack of knowledge about proper forms.