Naro language

For the Nilo-Saharan language, see Nara language.

Naro
Spoken in	Botswana, Namibia
Native speakers	14,000  (1998–2004)[1]
Language family	Khoe Kalahari (Tshu–Khwe) West Naro
Language codes
ISO 639-3	nhr
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Naro (also Nharo) is a Khoe language spoken in the Ghanzi District of Botswana and in eastern Namibia, where it is sometimes called Nharo. There are about 14,000 speakers: 10,000 in Botswana (2004 Cook) and 4,000 in Namibia (1998 Maho). This makes it probably the most-spoken of the Tshu–Khwe languages. Naro is a trade language among speakers of different Khoe languages in the Ghanzi District. There is currently a dictionary.

Phonology

Naro has the following consonant inventory, in the IPA and the orthography of Visser (2001):

Consonant phonemes of Naro

	Bilabial	Dental click	Alveolar			Lateral click	Palatal click	Velar	Glottal
			stop	affricate	click
Aspirate	ph /pʰ/	ch /ǀʰ/	th /tʰ/	tsh /tsʰ/	qh /ǃʰ/	xh /ǁʰ/	tch /ǂʰ/	kh /kʰ/
Tenuis	p /p/	c /ǀ/	t /t/	ts /ts/	q /ǃ/	x /ǁ/	tc /ǂ/	k /k/
Voiced	b /b/	dc /ᶢǀ/	d /d/	z /dz/	dq /ᶢǃ/	dx /ᶢǁ/	dtc /ᶢǂ/	gh /ɡ/
Nasal	m /m/	nc /ᵑǀ/	n /n/		nq /ᵑǃ/	nx /ᵑǁ/	ntc /ᵑǂ/
Glottalized		c’ /ǀˀ/			q’ /ǃˀ/	x’ /ǁˀ/	tc’ /ǂˀ/
Affricated		cg /ǀkχ/	tg /tχ/	tsg /tsχ/	qg /ǃkχ/	xg /ǁkχ/	tcg /ǂkχ/	(kg /kχ/)
Glottalized affricated		cg’ /ǀkχ’/		ts’ /ts’/	qg’ /ǃkχ’/	xg’ /ǁkχ’/	tcg’ /ǂkχ’/	kg’ /kχ’/
Fricative	f /f/		s /s/					g /x/	h /h/
Flap			r /ɾ/

Kg and kg’ only contrast for some speakers: kx’ám "mouth" vs. k’áù "male". The flap r is only found medially except in loan words. An l is only found in loans, and is generally substituted by /ɾ/ medially and /n/ initially. Medial [j] and [w] may be /i/ and /u/; they occur initially only in wèé "all, both" and in yèè (an interjection).

Naro has five vowel qualities, a e i o u,, which may occur long (aa ee ii oo uu), nasalized (ã ẽ ĩ õ ũ), pressed (a, e, i, o, u), or combinations of these (ã etc.). There are three tones, written á, a, à. Syllables are of the maximal form CVV, where VV is a long vowel, diphthong, or combination of vowel and m, and may take two tones: hḿm̀ "to see"; hm̀m̀ a xám̀ "to smell". The only consonant that can occur finally is m, except that long nasal vowels such as ãã may surface as [aŋ] ([ŋ] does not otherwise occur). Syllabic /n/ also occurs, as in nna.

Dialects

Naro is a dialect cluster.

• ǀAmkwe
• ǀAnekwe
• Gǃinkwe
• ǃGingkwe
• Gǃokwe
• Qabekhoe or Qabekho or ǃKabbakwe
• Tsʼaokhoe or Tsaukwe or Tsaokhwe
• Tserekwe
• Tsorokwe
• Nǀhai-ntseʼe or Nǁhai or Tsʼao

Naro Language Project

The Naro Language Project is a project currently being undertaken by the Reformed Church in D'kar that aims to describe, and develop an understanding of, the Naro language, increase literacy by teaching Naro speakers to read and write their language, and translate the Bible into Naro. The project was started in the 1980s. The Naro language project has, as of 2007, translated 70% of the Bible into the Naro language.

Bibliography

• Visser, Hessel (2001) Naro dictionary: Naro–English, English–Naro. Gansi, Botswana: Naro Language Project. ISBN 99912-938-5-X

References

1. ^ Naro at Ethnologue

External links

• Map of Naro language from the LL-Map Project
• Information about Naro language from the MultiTree Project
• The Ethnologue Report for Naro
• http://www.kuru.co.bw/naro.htm