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 (2000)
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

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

	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

	Front	Central	Back
High	i		u
Mid	e		o
Low		a

Additionally, Pare distinguishes between high tone and low tone.