Kipare (Asu) Alphabet

Unicode's CLDR, the data that teaches phones and computers each language, lists the Asu alphabet as a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p r s t u v w y z, each in capital and small form. That is A to Z without q and x, the same letter set Tanzanian languages such as Vunjo, Machame and Rombo use. In Kipare words, c appears only inside the pair ch, as in Kichina (Chinese) and ichamthi (p.m.), just as it does in Swahili.

There are no accented letters at all: no é, no ñ, no dotted vowels. Like most Bantu languages Kipare is a tonal language, but the everyday spelling does not mark tone, so a full Kipare text can be written on any keyboard in the world. The symbol grid above holds the 48 letters, the curly quotation marks used in Tanzanian print, the 🇹🇿 flag and ⛰️ for the Pare Mountains, the language's home.

th and dh: the Kipare spellings people notice

The pairs th and dh carry the sounds of English thin and this, written the way Swahili writes them in words like thelathini (thirty) and dhahabu (gold). In CLDR's Kipare locale they turn up where Swahili has s and z. Compare the names in CLDR's Kipare locale with their Swahili forms: Tadhania and Tanzania, Kiingeredha and Kiingereza (English), Kifarantha and Kifaransa (French), Kiruthi and Kirusi (Russian), Kihithpania and Kihispania (Spanish), Kithomali and Kisomali (Somali), Kidhulu and Kizulu (Zulu), Mithri and Misri (Egypt).

CLDR's Kipare era labels are Kabla yakwe Yethu and Baada yakwe Yethu (Before Christ and Anno Domini); the Swahili labels are Kabla ya Kristo and Baada ya Kristo, using Kristo, not Yesu. The rest of the date vocabulary is shared with Swahili: the days run Jumapili, Jumatatu, Jumanne, Jumatano, Alhamisi, Ijumaa, Jumamosi, and the months Januari to Desemba. Morning and afternoon have Kipare words of their own, icheheavo (a.m.) and ichamthi (p.m.).

How to type Kipare letters, quotes and the shilling

Every Kipare letter is on a standard keyboard, so there is nothing special to install: an English or Swahili phone keyboard types it all. For curly quotes on Windows, hold Alt and type 0147 for “, 0148 for ”, 0145 for ‘ and 0146 for ’ on the number pad; on a Mac, Option+[ gives “, Option+Shift+[ gives ”, Option+] gives ‘ and Option+Shift+] gives ’. On iPhone, Smart Punctuation can automatically turn straight quotes into curly ones.

The Tanzanian shilling has no Unicode sign of its own; it is written TSh (code TZS). CLDR's Kipare locale puts it after the amount with a space, 1,000.00 TSh, with a comma between thousands and a full stop for decimals, and names the currency shilingi ya Tandhania.

Where the Kipare (Asu) language is spoken

Kipare is the language of the Pare people (Wapare) of the Pare Mountains in Kilimanjaro Region, north-eastern Tanzania, around the town of Same and in Same and Mwanga districts. CLDR lists roughly 810,000 speakers in Tanzania; Glottolog also associates Asu with Kenya. Many of them also speak Swahili, the national language, and many Kipare words for modern things sit close to Swahili ones. In the north of the Pare range people speak Gweno, a separate language, and Asu is often called Chasu to keep the two apart.

Asu is a Bantu language in the Pare-Taveta group; Glottolog places it with Mbugu under Pareic, while Shambala is classified in a separate branch. Across the plain to the north, on the slopes of Kilimanjaro, are the Chaga languages Vunjo, Machame and Rombo. Each has its own collection, as do Swahili and Tanzania for the flag, the shilling and the country's emoji.