Pare language

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

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

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]

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]