| Gwere | |
| Nativename: | (O)lugwere |
| States: | Uganda |
| Region: | Eastern Region |
| Ethnicity: | Bagwere |
| Date: | 2002 census |
| Ref: | e18 |
| Familycolor: | Niger-Congo |
| Fam2: | Atlantic–Congo |
| Fam3: | Volta-Congo |
| Fam4: | Benue–Congo |
| Fam5: | Bantoid |
| Fam6: | Southern Bantoid |
| Fam7: | Bantu |
| Fam8: | Northeast Bantu |
| Fam9: | Great Lakes Bantu |
| Fam10: | West nyanza |
| Fam11: | North Nyanza |
| Iso3: | gwr |
| Glotto: | gwer1238 |
| Glottorefname: | Gwere |
| Guthrie: | JE.17 |
Gwere, or Lugwere, is the language spoken by the Gwere people (Bagwere), a Bantu people found in the eastern part of Uganda. It has a close dialectical resemblance to Soga and Ganda, which neighbour the Gwere.
Gwere, though closest in dialect to its eastern neighbours, also has many words similar to those used by tribes from the western part of Uganda.For example, musaiza (a man) resembles mushiiza used by the western languages with the same meaning.
The Ruli, a somewhat distant people living in central Uganda, speak a language that has almost exactly the same words used in Lugwere, but with a very different pronunciation.
Gwere has 20 consonant phonemes.
| Bilabial | Labio-dental | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive/ Affricate | pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/ | ||
| Fricative | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/ | |||
| Nasal | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | ||
| Approximant | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ |
Gwere has ten vowel phonemes, 5 short and 5 long.
| Front | Back | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/ | |
| Mid | pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/ | |
| Open | pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/ |
The Gwere alphabet has 31 letters.