Karen languages

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The Karen languages or Karen languages (also Kareang , Kariang or Kayin languages ) form a subgroup of the Tibetan Burman languages , a primary branch of Sinotibetic . The 15 languages ​​are spoken by around 4 million people in Burma and Thailand . The most important individual languages ​​are Sgaw (Sgo, language of the White Karen) with 1.6 million speakers and Pwo with 1.3 million speakers. The speakers live in two very different regions: on the one hand, in the deltas of the Irawaddy ,Salween and Sittang , on the other hand in the rugged hills and valleys of the Tenasserim Mountains on the border with Thailand.

Karen languages ​​are monosyllabic and tonal with four meaning-defining tones. Syntactically, they are of the VO type ; H. the object follows the verb and adjectives / adverbs follow the word to be modified - just like Thai, but different from many other Tibeto-Burmese languages .

Kareang and Kariang are the names for the Karen and their languages ​​in the Thai and Mon languages , while in the Burmese language they are called Kayin and the Shan Yang . At the beginning of the 19th century, European missionaries in Tenasserim began to design a typeface for the two most important Karene languages, Sgaw and Pwo. Between 1847 and 1850 an extensive collection of words appeared in Tavoy .

Classification and subunits

  • Sinotibian
    • Tibeto Burmese
      • Karen
        • Sgaw-Bghai-Kayah group
          • Sgaw group
            • Sgaw (S'gaw, Sgo, language of the White Karen) (1.6 million)   Dialects: Panapu, Palachi
            • Paku (Pagu, Monebwa, Mogwa) (5,000)
          • Bghai (Bwe) group
            • Geko (Padaung) (10,000)
            • Lahta (Taru) (10,000)
            • Bwe (15,000)
            • Geba (10,000)
          • Kayah group
            • Kayah (Kayah Li, language of the Red Karen) (500,000)
            • Manumanaw (10,000)
            • Yinbaw (7,000)
            • Yintale (10,000)
          • Brek (Bre) (20,000)
        • Pwo (Pho) (1.3 million)
          • Phlou dialects: Pa'an (Moulmein), Kawkareik, Tavoy
          • Thailand dialects: Kanchanaburi, Ratchaburi
          • Bassein dialects: Bassein, Tuan Net, Maubin
          • Phlong dialects: Mae Ping, Omkoi (Hod), Mae Sarieng, Phrae
        • Pa'o (Pao, Taungthu, language of the Black Karen) (600,000)
        • Zayein (10,000)

Classification, dialects and speaker numbers according to the given web link.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Sau Kau-too, J. Wader: Thesaurus of the Karen knowledge. Tavoy 1847-1850

literature

Karen

  • Sau Kau-too, J. Wader: Thesaurus of the Karen knowledge . Tavoy 1847-1850.
  • David Solnit: Eastern Kayah Li. In: Graham Thurgood, Randy J. LaPolla (Eds.): The Sino-Tibetan Languages. Routledge, London 2003.
  • Atsuhiko Kato: Pwo Karen. In: Graham Thurgood, Randy J. LaPolla (Eds.): The Sino-Tibetan Languages. Routledge, London 2003.

Tibeto Burmese

  • Christopher I. Beckwith (Ed.): Medieval Tibeto-Burman Languages. Brill, Leiden / Boston / Cologne 2002.
  • Paul K. Benedict: Sino-Tibetan. A Conspectus. Cambridge University Press, 1972.
  • Scott DeLancey: Sino-Tibetan Languages. In: Bernard Comrie (Ed.): The World's Major Languages. Oxford University Press, 1990.
  • Austin Hale: Research on Tibeto-Burman Languages. Mouton, Berlin / New York / Amsterdam 1982.
  • James A. Matisoff: Handbook of Proto-Tibeto-Burman. University of California Press, 2003.
  • Anju Saxena (Ed.): Himalayan Languages. Mouton de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2004.
  • Graham Thurgood, Randy J. LaPolla (Eds.): The Sino-Tibetan Languages. Routledge, London 2003.
  • George Van Driem: Languages ​​of the Himalayas. Brill, Leiden 2001.

See also

Web links