Naro language
| Naro | |
|---|---|
| Nharo | |
| Native to | Botswana, Namibia |
| Ethnicity | Ncoakhoe |
|
Native speakers
|
roughly 10,000 (2011) 8,000 in Botswana (2014) and 1,000 in Namibia (2011) about as many L2 speakers in Botswana |
|
Khoe
|
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | |
| Glottolog | naro1249 |
Naro /ˈnɑːroʊ/, also Nharo, is a Khoe language spoken in Ghanzi District of Botswana and in eastern Namibia. It is probably the most-spoken of the Tshu–Khwe languages. Naro is a trade language among speakers of different Khoe languages in Ghanzi District. There exists a dictionary.
Naro has the following consonant inventory, in the IPA of Miller (2011) and the orthography of Visser (2001):
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.
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