A Grammatical Study of Lunyankole-Lukiga

About the Book

About the Author

Edward Nobel Bisamunyu was born on 18 July 1957 in Kabale, Kigezi District in South-Western Uganda to Eli Nathan and Irene Rosemary Bisamunyu, both of whom were beneficiaries of the Church Missionary Society in Great Britain. He grew up in the ldyllic villages of Bweranyangyi, Bukinda, Muyebe and, later, in the then immaculate town of Kabale. Later, he lived in Nairobi, Mombasa and Dar-es-salaam, all of which gave him an early appreciation of other East African languages. Naturally, Lukiga, his own language, became a point of reference in this quiet but thrilling exploration of African languages. As an early member of the nationally acclaimed Kigezi High School Primary choir and St Peter’s Cathedral Choir in Kabale, both of which were led by David Rubalema, a renowned Ugandan music educationist whose lyrics employed exquisite and timeless phraseology, Edward retained a broad and colourful repertoire of songs in Lukiga. Daily, many of the lyrical phrases dictated his quest to understand the origin of Lukiga words and indeed how vocabulary in other East African languages converged with or deviated from them. After post A-level employment at Voice of Kenya Television in Mombasa as an Assistant Producer of Choral Music, where eloquent sacred choral songs in Swahili dominated his work, Edward read for a BSc in Biology and a BA in Literature at Ohio’s Kent State University. While also teaching Swahili for the university there he was involved in contemporary anti-apartheid activities typical of the American university scene at the time. As a Research Assistant in biological and medical sciences at Harvard University, Harvard Medical School, Howard Hughes Medical Institute at MIT and Tufts University’s New England Medical Center in Boston, Edward gained experience in cell and molecular biology, fruitfly and nematode genetics, the chemistry and biology of nucleic acids (or DNA and RNA) and the biology of cancer. In addition to his passion for science he was also active in international affairs seminars at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government and the Center for International Affairs. He was invited to join an academic collaboration in international affairs between Harvard and the University of Michigan as a Harvard University panellist after taking part in these seminars, where he often discredited scholars who heaped undue praise on unworthy East African leaders. In 1996, Edward left the US to return to a more natural background in the Commonwealth fold. In England, he worked for the Economists Advisory Group of London as Project Consultant with a specialism in analyisis of medical literature. His work here culminated in an internal report on the effects of soluble dietary fibre on the incidence of coronary heart disease and the economic benefits accruing from its inclusion in diets. Later, he joined New Scientist Magazine in London as a Consulting Subeditor before embarking works as Lecturer in Chemistry, Biology and Medical Terminology at London’s South Thames College, through which he also taught Medical Terminology at London’s Cromwell and Mayday Hospitals before receiving an appointment to teach Medical Biology in English and English as a language in China. During intervals of playing tennis with friends at Regent’s Park and singing with the All Souls Church Choir, Langham Place in London Edward has spent many hours in the British Library researching a family biography, The Shores of Lake Victoria, the history of Uganda from 1850 to 1900 and this book. In 2002, during a brief foray into Scandinavia, he was invited to speak to Swedish academics and professionals in Stockholm’s Gamla Stan about the relationship between Sweden and Africa. His talk included Swedish historical personalities who have impressed him during his life. Included in this discussion were Alva Myrdal, whose son-in-law, Dr Derek Bok, formerly President of Harvard University, Edward had known in Boston. Others were Olaf Palme and Dag Hammarskjold. On returning to the UK, Edward continued to give talks he had started on the subject of British colonial, military and missionary work in East Africa. For the last two years, Edward taught Medical Biology in English and English Language for Holmes Institute (Australia) in Zhengzhou, China. Here, he taught English-Speaking and Medical Terminology to nurses of the Intensive Care Unit in the Cardiology Department at the Third-Affiliated Maternity and Children’s Hospital. In February 2011, he will begin to teach Chemistry (A-level) for a Sino-Canadian program Henan Experimental High School, a 9,000 student operation in Zhengzhou, the envy of all schools in Henan, China’s most densely populated province. Some of Edward’s photographs, a few of which won prizes or were selected for inclusion in art shows in the United States, also feature in this book. He has travelled widely in the People’s Republic of China, Hong Kong, East Africa, the United States, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Finland and the Netherlands. In addition to music and tennis, Edward’s other interests are origami, writing, running and climbing mountains.