Naro /ˈnɑːroʊ/, also Nharo, is a Khoe language spoken in Ghanzi District of Botswana and in eastern Namibia.
Naro has the following consonant inventory (in the IPA) as described by Miller (2011), whereas the orthographic symbols were proposed by Visser (2001):[3] The phonemes /kχ/ and /kχʼ/ (spelt ⟨kg⟩ and ⟨kgʼ⟩) only contrast for some speakers: kgʼám ‘mouth’ vs. kgʼáù ‘male’.
Naro has five vowel qualities, /a e i o u/, which may occur long (/aː eː iː oː uː/ spelt ⟨aa ee ii oo uu⟩), nasalized (/ã ẽ ĩ õ ũ/), pharyngealized (/aˤ eˤ iˤ oˤ uˤ/ , spelt ⟨a̱ e̱ i̱ o̱ u̱⟩, and combinations of these (/ãˤ ẽː/ ⟨ã̱ ẽe⟩ etc.).
There are three tones: high, mid, and low Syllables are in general simple in Naro, with the maximal shape CV(V)C, where VV is a long vowel or diphthong.
Naro orthography uses the Latin alphabet, and is partially based on the systems for Zulu and Xhosa, especially as far as clicks are represented.