Katana VentraIP

Nara language

The Nara (Nera) or Barea (Barya) language is spoken by the Nara people in an area just to the north of Barentu in the Gash-Barka Region of western Eritrea.[2] The language is often confused with Kunama, which is at best only distantly related.

For the languages of Southern Africa and Papua New Guinea, see Naro language and Lala language (Papua New Guinea).

Nara

Eritrea

Gash-Barka

Nara

73,000 (2022)[1]

  • Higir
  • Koyta
  • Santora
  • Mogoreeb

Latin

nrb

nara1262

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."[3]


Nara has been classified as Northern Eastern Sudanic by Rilly (2009:2),[4] but Glottolog considers the evidence unpersuasive and classifies Nara as an isolate.[5]

Higir, the standard literary dialect spoken just to the north of

Barentu, Eritrea

Mogoreeb, spoken from the outskirts of to Bisha village in western Eritrea

Haykota

Saantoorta, spoken to the west of

Barentu, Eritrea

Koyta, spoken to the northeast of

Barentu, Eritrea

There are four Nara dialects according to Rilly (2010:178):[6]


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

Other sounds such as [z, c, kʼ, x, ʔ] occur from Tigre and Arabic.

[7]

Nara basic lexicon at the Global Lexicostatistical Database