Investigating Children’s Noun Learning in Uganda

African children’s language learning is understudied. In two studies, we examine children’s noun learning in Luganda, a dominant Bantu language in Uganda. In Study 1, the MacArthur-Bates CDI: Words and Sentences vocabulary checklist was adapted for Luganda. Parents of children aged 17–33 months (n = 27; Mage = 25.4 months; 16 female) were interviewed about their child’s comprehension/production of each word. Children with smaller vocabularies showed a “noun bias” in production but favored verbs in comprehension. Children with larger vocabularies favored nouns in comprehension but showed no differences between nouns and verbs in comprehension or production when total nouns/verbs on the list are considered. Study 2 tested children’s understanding of two common Luganda noun prefixes (omu- and eki-), asking whether children have linked these prefixes with cognitive categories (e.g. people, artifacts). In an experimental task, children aged 2–4 years (n = 24; M = 3 years; 16 girls) were asked to point to toy objects testing their knowledge of familiar omu- and eki- prefixed nouns and extension of these prefixes to novel nouns. Results showed that younger children could extend the prefix omu- (people, food) to new examples; the eki- prefix (artifacts, despised animals) was extended only by 4-year-olds. Comparing these results to checklist data, interestingly, children knew more nouns for artifacts than animates. Studies of children’s acquisition of African languages, especially using experimental methods, are needed. We show evidence for a noun bias in Luganda is mixed and that children can attend to important prefix-cognitive category links – important results for the field.