View source for Nara language

{{Short description|Nilo-Saharan language spoken in Eritrea}}
{{About|the language of Eritrea|the language of Southern Africa|Naro language|the language of Papua New Guinea|Lala language (Papua New Guinea)}}
{{Infobox language
|name=Nara
|nativename=Nara-Bana
|pronunciation=
|states= [[Eritrea]]
|region= [[Gash-Barka Region|Gash-Barka]]
|ethnicity=[[Nara people|Nara]]
|speakers={{sigfig|73,200|2}}
|date=2022
|ref=e27
|dia1= Higir
|dia2=Koyta
|dia3=Santora
|dia4=Mogoreeb
|minority={{ERI}}
|familycolor=Nilo-Saharan
|fam2=[[Eastern Sudanic languages|Eastern Sudanic]]
|fam3=[[Northern Eastern Sudanic languages|Northern Eastern]]
|script=[[Latin alphabet]]
|iso3=nrb
|glotto=nara1262
|glottorefname=Nara
| map              = Localisation des langues érythréennes.png
| mapcaption       =Linguistic map of Eritrea; Nara is spoken in the sea-blue region in the west
}}

The '''Nara''' (Nera) or '''Barea''' (Barya) language is spoken by the [[Nara people]] in an area just to the north of [[Barentu, Eritrea|Barentu]] in the [[Gash-Barka Region]] of western [[Eritrea]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Ethnologue report for language code:nrb |url=http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=nrb |access-date=2006-08-31}}</ref> The language is often confused with [[Kunama language|Kunama]], which is at best only distantly related. 

The endangerment status of Nara is unclear. According to [[Glottolog]] it is not endangered, but according to Tsige Hailemichael, the "...Nara language is in danger of quickly disappearing."<ref>{{cite web|title=Once Upon a Time… in Nara Language| last=Hailemichael | first=Tsige | url=http://www.shaebia.org/artman/publish/article_4169.shtml |date=2005-11-05 |access-date=2006-08-31}}</ref> 

Nara has been classified as [[Northern Eastern Sudanic languages|Northern Eastern Sudanic]] by Rilly (2009:2),<ref>Rilly, Claude. 2009. ''From the Yellow Nile to the Blue Nile: The quest for water and the diffusion of Northern East Sudanic languages from the fourth to the first millennia BCE''. Paper presented at ECAS 2009 (3rd European Conference on African Studies, Panel 142: African waters – water in Africa, barriers, paths, and resources: their impact on language, literature and history of people) in Leipzig, 4 to 7 June 2009.</ref> but ''Glottolog'' considers the evidence unpersuasive and classifies Nara as an isolate.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://glottolog.org/resource/languoid/id/nara1262|title=Glottolog 4.4 – Nara}}</ref>

==Dialects==
There are four Nara dialects according to Rilly (2010:178):<ref>Rilly, Claude. 2010. ''Le méroïtique et sa famille linguistique''. Leuven: Peeters Publishers. {{ISBN|978-9042922372}}</ref>

*''Higir'', the standard literary dialect spoken just to the north of [[Barentu, Eritrea]]
*''Mogoreeb'', spoken from the outskirts of [[Haykota]] to Bisha village in western Eritrea
*''Saantoorta'', spoken to the west of [[Barentu, Eritrea]]
*''Koyta'', spoken to the northeast of [[Barentu, Eritrea]]

Higir and Mogoreeb are the larger tribes, while Saantoorta and Koyta are smaller tribes (Rilly 2010:178).

== Phonology ==

=== Consonants ===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
! colspan="2" rowspan="2" |
! rowspan="2" |[[Labial consonant|Labial]]
! rowspan="2" |[[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
! rowspan="2" |[[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]
! colspan="2" |[[Velar consonant|Velar]]
! rowspan="2" |[[Glottal consonant|Glottal]]
|-
!<small>plain</small>
!<small>[[Labialization|lab.]]</small>
|-
! rowspan="3" |[[Stop consonant|Stop]]
!{{Small|voiceless}}
|
|{{IPA link|t}}
|
|{{IPA link|k}}
|{{IPA link|kʷ}}
|
|-
!{{Small|voiced}}
|{{IPA link|b}}
|{{IPA link|d}}
|{{IPA link|dʒ}}
|{{IPA link|g}}
|{{IPA link|ɡʷ}}
|
|-
!<small>prenasal</small>
|{{IPA link|ᵐb}}
|{{IPA link|ⁿd}}
|
|{{IPA link|ᵑɡ}}
|{{IPA link|ᵑɡʷ}}
|
|-
! colspan="2" |[[Fricative]]
|{{IPA link|f}}
|{{IPA link|s}}
|{{IPA link|ʃ}}
|
|
|{{IPA link|h}}
|-
! colspan="2" |[[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]
|{{IPA link|m}}
|{{IPA link|n}}
|
|{{IPA link|ŋ}}
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" |[[Lateral consonant|Lateral]]
|
|{{IPA link|l}}
|
|
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" |[[Rhotic consonant|Rhotic]]
|
|{{IPA link|r}}
|
|
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" |[[Approximant]]
|
|
|{{IPA link|j}}
|
|{{IPA link|w}}
|
|}

* Other sounds such as [z, c, kʼ, x, ʔ] occur from Tigre and Arabic.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Thompson |first=David E. |title=Nera |publisher=Michigan State University. |year=1976 |location=In Bender, M. Lionel (ed.), The Non-Semitic Languages of Ethiopia |pages=484–494}}</ref>

=== Vowels ===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
!
![[Front vowel|Front]]
![[Central vowel|Central]]
![[Back vowel|Back]]
|- align="center"
![[Close vowel|Close]]
|{{IPA link|i}} {{IPA link|iː}}
|
|{{IPA link|u}} {{IPA link|uː}}
|-
![[Mid vowel|Mid]]
|{{IPA link|e}} {{IPA link|eː}}
|
|{{IPA link|o}} {{IPA link|oː}}
|- align="center"
![[Open vowel|Open]]
|
|{{IPA link|a}} {{IPA link|aː}}
|
|}

==References==
<references />

== External links ==
* [http://starling.rinet.ru/cgi-bin/response.cgi?root=new100&morpho=0&basename=new100\esu\nar&limit=-1 Nara basic lexicon at the Global Lexicostatistical Database]

{{Languages of Eritrea}}
{{Eastern Sudanic languages}}
{{Nilo-Saharan families}}

{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Languages of Eritrea]]
[[Category:Northern Eastern Sudanic languages]]
[[Category:Language isolates of Africa]]

{{NiloSaharan-lang-stub}}