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The Karen (/kəˈrɛn/)[1] or Karenic languages are tonal languages spoken by some seven million Karen people. They are of unclear affiliation within the Sino-Tibetan languages.[2] The Karen languages are written using the Karen script.[3] The three main branches are Sgaw, Pwo and Pa'O. Karenni (also known as Kayah or Red Karen) and Kayan (also known as Padaung) are a branch of Karen languages. They are unusual among the Sino-Tibetan languages in having a subject–verb–object word order; other than Karen, Bai and the Chinese languages, Sino-Tibetan languages have a subject–object–verb order.[4] This is likely due to influence from neighboring Mon and Tai languages.[5]

Karenic
Ethnicity	Karen people
Geographic distribution	South-eastern Myanmar, Western Thailand
Native speakers	9 million
Linguistic classification	Sino-Tibetan Karenic
Proto-language	Proto-Karenic
Subdivisions	Sgaw Pa'O Pwo
ISO 639-2 / 5	kar
Glottolog	kare1337

Classification

Because they differ from other Tibeto-Burman languages in morphology and syntax, Benedict (1972: 2–4, 129) removed the Karen languages from Tibeto-Burman in a Tibeto-Karen branch, but this is no longer accepted.[2][5]

A common geographical classification distinguishes three groups:

Northern

Pa’o

Central

The area of greatest diversity, including Kayah (Red Karen or Karenni), Kayaw (Brek), Bwe (Bghai), Geba and many more.

Southern

Pwo and Sgaw

Kayan (Padaung) is transitional between the northern and central groups.[6] The languages with the most speakers are Sgaw, Pwo and Pa’o.

Manson (2011)

Manson (2011) classifies the Karen languages as follows, with each primary branch characterized by phonological innovations:[7]

Karen

• Peripheral: proto-voiceless stop initials appearing as aspirated stops (e.g. *p > pʰ)
  • Pa’o
  • Pwo
• Northern: merger of nasal finals (e.g. *am, *an > aɴ), merger of stop-final rhymes with the open counterpart (e.g. *aʔ, *a > a)
  • Kayan
  • Lahta
  • Yinbaw
  • Yintale
• Central: vowel raising (e.g. *a > ɛ)
  • Western Kayah, Eastern Kayah
  • Geba, Bwe
  • Paku (?)
  • Geker, Gekho (?; may be Central or Southern)
  • Kayaw, Manu (?; may be Central or Southern)
• Southern: merger of nasal-final rhymes, with the rhyme subsequently raised (e.g. *am, *aŋ > ɔ)
  • Sgaw, Paku
  • Dermuha, Palaychi

The classifications of Geker, Gekho, Kayaw, and Manu are ambiguous, as they may be either Central or Southern.

Shintani (2012)

Shintani Tadahiko (2012:x)[8] gives the following tentative classification, proposed in 2002, for what he calls the "Brakaloungic" languages, of which Karen is a branch. Individual languages are marked in italics.

Brakaloungic

• Pao
  • Pao
• Karen
  • Kayah-Padaung
    • Kayah
    • Pado-Thaido-Gekho
      • Thaidai[9]
      • Pado-Gekho
        • Gekho[10]
        • Padaung
          • Padaung (Kayan)
          • Gekho (Yathu Gekho)
  • Bwe
    • Bweba-Kayaw
      • Kayaw
      • Bweba
        • Geba
        • Bwe
  • Sgaw-Pwo
    • Pwo
    • Mobwa
      • Mopwa
      • Blimaw[11]
    • Pako-Sgaw
      • Sgaw
      • Pakubwa
        • Paku
        • Monebwa
        • Thalebwa

However, at the time of publication, Shintani (2012) reports that there are more than 40 Brakaloungic languages and/or dialects, many of which have only been recently reported and documented. Shintani also reports that Mon influence is present in all Brakaloungic languages, while some also have significant Burmese and Shan influence.

The Kayan languages are spoken in Kayah State, southern Shan State, and northern Karen State. There are four branches according to Shintani (2016),[12] namely Kangan ("lowland dwellers"), Kakhaung ("highland dwellers"), Lawi ("South"), and Latha ("North").[13] Nangki (sometimes called Langki), documented in Shintani (2016), is one of the Kayan languages belonging to the Kakhaung subgroup. It is spoken only in one village.

Kadaw is spoken in Kayah State, and has nasalized vowels but no final nasal consonants.[13] It has more Burmese than Shan influence. Thamidai is yet another Karenic language.[14]

Luangthongkum (2019)

Luangthongkum (2019) recognizes three branches of Proto-Karen, namely Northern, Central, and Southern, but is agnostic about how the three branches fit together.[15]

Karenic

• Northern
  • Northern Pa-O
  • Southern Pa-O
• Central
  • Kayan
  • Kayah
  • Western Bwe (Blimaw, Geba)
  • Kayaw
• Southern
  • Northern Sgaw
  • Southern Sgaw
  • Northern Pwo
  • Southern Pwo

Note: Western Bwe Karen (Blimaw, Geba) preserves the implosives or preglottalised obstruents ɓ/ʔb and ɗ/ʔd, as well as voiceless sonorants such as hn, hl, and so forth.

Reconstruction

References

• George van Driem (2001) Languages of the Himalayas: An Ethnolinguistic Handbook of the Greater Himalayan Region. Brill.

Further reading

• Dawkins, Erin and Audra Phillips (2009) A Sociolinguistic Survey of Pwo Karen in Northern Thailand Chiang Mai: Payap University.
• Dawkins, Erin and Audra Phillips (2009) An investigation of intelligibility between West-Central Thailand Pwo Karen and Northern Pwo Karen. Chiang Mai: Payap University.
• Manson, Ken. 2010. A bibliography of Karen linguistics

Reconstructions

• Jones, Robert B. Jr. 1961. Karen linguistic studies: Description, comparison, and texts. University of California Publications in Linguistics 25. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.
• Luangthongkum, Theraphan. 2013. A view on Proto-Karen phonology and lexicon. Unpublished ms. contributed to STEDT.

Vocabulary lists

• Shintani, Tadahiko. 2014. The Zayein language. Linguistic survey of Tay cultural area (LSTCA) no. 102. Tokyo: Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa (ILCAA).
• Shintani, Tadahiko. 2015. The Kadaw language. Linguistic survey of Tay cultural area (LSTCA) no. 106. Tokyo: Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa (ILCAA).
• Shintani, Tadahiko. 2016. The Nangki language. Linguistic survey of Tay cultural area (LSTCA) no. 109. Tokyo: Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa (ILCAA).

External links

• Free Anglo-Karen Dictionary
• A grammar of the Sgaw Karen
• Drum Publication Group—Online Sgaw Karen language materials. Includes an online English - Sgaw Karen Dictionary.
• Karen Teacher Working Group—Several Karen fonts available for download.

На других языках

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- [en] Karenic languages

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[fr] Langues karens

Les langues karens ou karènes[1] (également appelées langues karéniques pour y inclure les langues karènes proprement dites) sont parlées principalement en Birmanie (Myanmar), et, dans une moindre mesure, en Thaïlande par environ quatre millions de personnes. Elles constituent une sous-branche de la branche birmane dans la famille tibéto-birmane, qui fait partie elle-même du groupe des langues sino-tibétaines. Quatre langues prédominent par ordre d'importance : le karène sgaw, la plus répandue, le karène pwo, le kayah et le karène pa-o, à l'intérieur desquelles peuvent exister des dialectes plus ou moins différenciés (c'est le cas du karène pwo oriental et du karène pwo occidental, et du kayah oriental et du kayah occidental ou kayah li).

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[it] Lingue karen

La lingua karen è una lingua tibeto-birmana parlata in Birmania, Thailandia e Stato karen.

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[ru] Каренские языки

Каре́нские языки — ветвь языков в составе тибето-бирманской подсемьи. Распространены в южных областях Мьянмы и прилегающих районах Таиланда. Общее число говорящих — 5-7 млн человек, в том числе в Таиланде — 190 тыс. человек.

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