Pare language

This article is about the Bantu language. For the Papuan language, see Pa language.

Pare
Kipare, Casu
Native to	Tanzania
Native speakers	(500,000 cited 2000) [1]
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Volta-Congo Benue–Congo Bantoid Southern Bantoid Bantu Northeast Bantu Northeast Coast Bantu Pare-Taveta Pareic Pare
Language codes
ISO 639-3	asa
Glottolog	asut1235
Guthrie code	G.22 [2]

Pare (Kipare), also known as Asu (Casu, Chasu, Athu, Chathu), is a Northeast Coast Bantu language spoken by the Pare people of Tanzania.

Phonology

Consonants ^[3]

	Labial	Dental	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar
Plosive	p b		t d	tɕ dʑ	k g
Prenasalized	ᵐp ᵐb		ⁿt ⁿd ⁿz	ⁿdʑ	ᵑk ᵑg
Fricative	f v	( θ ) ( ð )	s z	ɕ	x ɣ
Nasal	m		n		ŋ
Approximant	w		r , l	j

• The dental fricatives /θ ð/ are only found in Swahili loanwords.
• /m/ can be syllabic.

Vowels ^[3]

	Front	Central	Back
High	i		u
Mid	e		o
Low		a

Additionally, Pare distinguishes between high tone and low tone. ^[3]

References

1. Pare at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
2. Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online
3. Kagaya, Ryohei (1989). "A Classified Vocabulary of the Pare Language". Bantu Vocabulario Series. 6. Tokyo: Institute for the Study of Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa: 1–179.