Voices of Plurality: Linguistic Diversity and Social Interactions in Ugandan Polygamous Marriages

Polygamy remains a significant marital institution in Uganda, where multilingualism intersects with family structure, gender roles, and social status. While legal and health implications of polygamous unions have been studied, little attention has been paid to the role of language in shaping intra-household dynamics. This study investigates how linguistic diversity within Ugandan polygamous marriages reflects and constructs social hierarchies, emotional relationships, and marital strategies.

This qualitative research analyzes 200 anonymized micro-narratives collected between 2023 and 2024 via the SIDINL Newsletters platform, spanning 20 Ugandan languages. Narrative analysis, sociolinguistic analysis, and discourse analysis were employed to examine language use in polygamous households. Stories were gathered from husbands, co-wives, children, and in-laws, transcribed, translated, and coded for themes such as hierarchy, emotional tone, and language switching.

Linguistic choices, such as honorifics, metaphors, and strategic code-switching, consistently signaled status, emotional positioning, and power dynamics within polygamous families. Multilingualism was used not only to navigate household conflict and intimacy but also as a tool for forming polygamous unions, particularly in urban, border, or migratory contexts. Regional storytelling patterns revealed culturally specific framings of polygamy: moral and spiritual in the West, inheritance-based in the North, pragmatic in the East, and justice-oriented in the West Nile. Selective multilingualism emerged as a strategy where language fluency influenced marriage decisions and access to social capital.

Language functions as both a social instrument and a strategic resource in Ugandan polygamous marriages. It actively shapes family hierarchies, emotional dynamics, and mobility. Recognizing the role of language in household organization is essential for understanding marital structures in multilingual societies. These findings highlight the need for culturally grounded, linguistically sensitive approaches in both research and policy design.