Naro , also Nharo, is a

Khoe language Khwe (also rendered ''Kxoe, Khoe'' ) is a dialect continuum of the Khoe languages, Khoe family of Namibia, Angola, Botswana, South Africa, and parts of Zambia, with some 8,000 speakers. Classification Khwe is a member of the Khoe languages, ...

spoken in

Ghanzi District Ghanzi (sometimes Gantsi) is a district in western Botswana, bordering Namibia in the west and extending east into much of the interior of the country. The district's administrative centre is the town of Ghanzi. Most of the eastern half of Ghanzi ...

Botswana Botswana (, ), officially the Republic of Botswana ( tn, Lefatshe la Botswana, label= Setswana, ), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory being the Kalaha ...

and in eastern

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

. It is probably the most-spoken of the Tshu–Khwe languages. Naro is a trade language among speakers of different Khoe languages in

. There exists a dictionary.

Phonology

Naro has the following consonant inventory (in the IPA) as described by Miller (2011), whereas the orthographic symbols were proposed by Visser (2001):Visser originally wrote the palatal clicks with a base of , but switched to to make the language more accessible from English-language typewriters and keyboards. The phonemes /kχ/ and /kχʼ/ (spelt ⟨kg⟩ and ⟨kgʼ⟩) only contrast for some speakers: ''kgʼám'' ‘mouth’ vs. ''kgʼáù'' ‘male’. The flap /ɾ/ only occurs word-medially except in loan words. The lateral /l/ is only found in loans, and is generally substituted by medially, and by initially. Medial and may be and ; they occur initially only in ''wèé'' ‘all, both’ and in ''yèè'' (an interjection).

Vowels

Naro has five vowel qualities, /a e i o u/'','' which may occur long (/aː eː iː oː uː/ spelt ⟨aa ee ii oo uu⟩)'','' nasalized ''(/''ã ẽ ĩ õ ũ/''),''

pharyngealized Pharyngealization is a secondary articulation of consonants or vowels by which the Human pharynx, pharynx or epiglottis is constricted during the articulation of the sound. IPA symbols In the International Phonetic Alphabet, pharyngealization can ...

''(''/aˤ eˤ iˤ oˤ uˤ/ , spelt ⟨a e i o u⟩, and combinations of these (/ãˤ ẽː/ ⟨ã ẽe⟩ etc.). There are three tones: high, mid, and low

Syllable structure

Syllables are in general simple in Naro, with the maximal shape CV(V)C'','' where VV is a long vowel or diphthong. The only consonant that occurs in coda position is /m/, as in /ᵏǁám̀/ ''xám̀'' ‘to smell’. However, long nasal vowels such as /ãː/ may occur with an excrescent �as in �ŋ

Syllabic Syllabic may refer to: *Syllable, a unit of speech sound, considered the building block of words **Syllabic consonant, a consonant that forms the nucleus of a syllable *Syllabary, writing system using symbols for syllables *Abugida, writing system ...

/m n/ also occur, as in /n̩.nā/ ''nna.'' Nasals such as /m/ can also form syllable nuclei, as in /hḿḿ/''.''

Orthography

Naro orthography uses the

Latin alphabet The Latin alphabet or Roman alphabet is the collection of letters originally used by the ancient Romans to write the Latin language. Largely unaltered with the exception of extensions (such as diacritics), it used to write English and th ...

, and is partially based on the systems for Zulu and

Xhosa Xhosa may refer to: * Xhosa people, a nation, and ethnic group, who live in south-central and southeasterly region of South Africa * Xhosa language, one of the 11 official languages of South Africa, principally spoken by the Xhosa people See als ...

, especially as far as clicks are represented. Digraphs are used for clicks, and to represent affricates. Vowel length is represented by doubling of the vowel, whereas the orthography utilizes the tilde to represent nasality (⟨ã ẽ ĩ õ ũ⟩), and underline to represent pharyngealization. Tones are written with diacritics both on vowels and nasal consonants, with the exception of the mid tone, which is not represented (e.g. ⟨á a à ḿ m̀ ń ǹ⟩)''.'' Below is an overview of Naro clicks in both orthography and IPA (Visser 2001). The

dental click Dental (or more precisely denti-alveolar) clicks are a family of click consonants found, as constituents of words, only in Africa and in the Damin ritual jargon of Australia. In English, the ''tut-tut!'' (British spelling, "tutting") or ''t ...

is represented by ''c''.

alveolar click The alveolar or postalveolar clicks are a family of click consonants found only in Africa and in the Damin ritual jargon of Australia. The tongue is more or less concave (depending on the language), and is pulled down rather than back as in ...

by ''q'',

palatal click The palatal or palato-alveolar clicks are a family of click consonants found, as components of words, only in southern Africa. The tongue is nearly flat, and is pulled back rather than down as in the postalveolar clicks, making a sharper sound ...

by ''tc'', and lateral click by ''x''. All examples are from Visser (2001).

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 and possibly ǂHaba.

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 The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts ...

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.

Numerals

Below are Naro numerals, from Visser (2001). Only 'one', 'two', and 'three' are native Naro numerals, while the rest have been borrowed from Nama. Orthography is given first, followed by IPA in brackets. *1 ''cúí'' /, úí/ *2 ''cám̀'' /, ám̀/ *3 ''nqoanà'' /ᵑǃōa̯nà/ *4. ''hàka'' /hàkā/ *5. ''koro'' /kōɾō/ *6. ''nqáné'' /ǃnáné/ *7. ''hõò'' /hṍò/ *8. ''kaisà'' /kāi̯sà/ *9. ''khòesí'' [kʰo᷅e̯sí/ *10. ''dìsí'' /dìsí/

Bibliography

*Visser, Hessel (2001) ''Naro Dictionary: Naro–English, English–Naro''. Gansi, Botswana: Naro Language Project.

References

The Kuru Naro Language ProjectNaro basic lexicon at the Global Lexicostatistical Database
{{Authority control Khoe languages Languages of Botswana