Index compiled by Bertille Collignon (University of Lyon 2), 2009

Data on North Chasu

Alternative names: Kipare, Asu

Classification: Niger-Congo language family, Bantu language, G22.A

Area: In the Pare mountains, Mwanga district, Tanzania

Number of speakers: Between 200 000 and 400 000 speakers (estimated by Bertille Collignon; this number represents the totality of speakers of North and South Chasu)

Language status: No official status.

Vitality & transmission:

The transmission of North Chasu is sustained. However North Chasu speakers who migrate towards large cities generally abandon it in favor of Swahili. North Chasu is neither a written nor a taught language; it is rarely studied, and little is known of it.

Ethnographic observations:

How do speakers of North Chasu live?

They inhabit a tropical forest region, and their economy depends on agriculture – mainly bananas, rice, and sugar cane.

Linguistic observations:

Like many Bantu languages, North Chasu is a tonal language. Chasu also possesses nominal classes, which are also typical of Bantu languages.

Sociolinguistic observations:

The language has lost its value among its speakers in favor of Swahili (national language taught in schools) and English (language of universities and of the elite).

Sources & additional bibliography :

Dannholz, Jakob J. (1916). Im Banne des Geisterglaubens: Züge des animistischen Heidentums bei den Wasu in Deutsch-Ostafrika. Leipzig: Evangelisch-Lutherische Mission. Pp 133.

Guth, W. (1939/40). Der Asu-Gruss, in Zeitschrift für Eingeborenen-Sprachen 30., pp. 148-160.

Hohenberger, J. (1929/30) « Zur Lautlehre und Grammatik des Asu« , in Zeitschrift für Eingeborenen-Sprachen 20., pp. 175-208.

Kagaya, R. (1989), A Classified vocabulary of the pare language, Tokio: ILCAA

Kähler-Meyer, E. (1964) Töne und Akzente in der Formenlehre des Chasu (Tanganjika), Afrika und Übersee. 47..89-133. source: BantuRef.

Kotz, E. (1909), Grammatik des Chasu in deutsch-Ostafrica (Pare-Gebirge),  England: Gregg Press

Mreta (1998). An analysis of tense and aspect in Chasu: their form and meaning in the affirmative constructions. Beiträge zur Afrikanistik, #10. Hamburg: Lit Verlag. Pp xiii, 186

Mreta, (1990) The problem of Bantu linguistic affiliation: the case of Chasu, Kigweno, Kikahe and Kirombo. University of Dar es Salaam

Mreta, (2000) « The nature and effects of Chasu-Kigweno contact« , in Kahigi, K. K., Y. M. Kihore & M. Mous (Ed), Lugha za Tanzania/Languages of Tanzania: studies dedicated to the memory of Prof. Clement Maganga, Leiden : Research School of Asian, African and Amerindian Studies (CNWS), State University of Leiden., pp. 177-189.

Mreta (2008) Chasu lexicon. LoT (Languages of Tanzania) publications, #14. Dept. of Foreign Languages and Linguistics, Univ. of Dar es Salaam.

Odden, D. (1986). “Three dialects of kipare”, in Gerrit J. Dimmendaal (ed), currents approaches to Africans linguistics, vol.3, 257-280.