Karenic languages

{{Redirect|Karen languages|other uses|Karen (disambiguation){{!}}Karen}}

{{Infobox language family

| name = Karenic

| map = Karen languages map.svg

| region = South-eastern Myanmar, Western Thailand

| ethnicity = Karen people

| familycolor = Sino-Tibetan

| fam2 = Tibeto-Burman

| child1 = Sgaw

| child2 = Pa'O

| child3 = Pwo

| protoname = Proto-Karenic

| iso2 = kar

| glotto = kare1337

| glottorefname = Karenic

| speakers = 4.5 million

| date = 2017

| ref = {{cite book |editor1-surname=Eberhard |editor1-given=David M. |editor2-given=Gary F. |editor2-surname=Simons |editor3-given=Charles D. |editor3-surname=Fennig |year=2019 |title=Ethnologue: Languages of the World |edition=22nd |location=Dallas, Texas |publisher=SIL International }}

}}

The Karen ({{IPAc-en|k|ə|ˈ|r|ɛ|n}})Laurie Bauer, 2007, The Linguistics Student's Handbook, Edinburgh or Karenic languages are tonal languages spoken by some 4.5 million Karen people. They are of unclear affiliation within the Sino-Tibetan languages.{{cite book|title=The Sino-Tibetan Languages |author= Graham Thurgood, Randy J. LaPolla|year=2003|publisher=Routledge|isbn=0-7007-1129-5|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=5MeWSTQ7F44C&q=%22Karen+languages%22&pg=PA44}} The Karen languages are written using the Karen script.{{cite web|url=http://www.omniglot.com/writing/burmese.htm|title=Burmese/Myanmar script and pronunciation|work=Omniglot.com|access-date=2015-05-05}} The three main branches are Sgaw (commonly known as Karen), 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.{{cite web|url=http://stedt.berkeley.edu/html/STfamily.html|title=The Sino-Tibetan Language Family|work=Berkeley.edu|access-date=2015-05-05}} This is likely due to influence from neighboring Mon and Tai languages.{{cite journal | last = Matisoff | first = James A. | title = Sino-Tibetan Linguistics: Present State and Future Prospects | journal = Annual Review of Anthropology | volume = 20 | pages = 469–504 | publisher = Annual Reviews Inc. | year = 1991 | doi = 10.1146/annurev.an.20.100191.002345}}

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.

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.{{cite book |chapter=Eastern Kayah Li |given=David |surname=Solnit |pages=932–941 |title=The Sino-Tibetan Languages |editor1-given=Graham |editor1-surname=Thurgood |editor2-given=Randy J. |editor2-surname=LaPolla |publisher=Routledge |edition=2nd |year=2017 |isbn=978-1-138-78332-4}} p. 933.

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:{{cite web|url=http://jseals.org/seals21/manson11subgroupingd.pdf |title=The subgrouping of Karen |given=Ken |surname=Manson | year=2011 |publisher=Southeast Asian Linguistics Society |access-date=2015-05-05}}

;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/Kayan
Yintale
Central: vowel raising (e.g. *a > ɛ)
Western Kayah, Eastern Kayah
Geba, Bwe
Paku (?)
Geker/Kayan Geku, 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)Shintani Tadahiko (2012). A handbook of comparative Brakaloungic languages. Tokyo: ILCAA. 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
ThaidaiShintani Tadahiko. 2018. The Thaidai language. Linguistic survey of Tay cultural area (LSTCA) no. 116. Tokyo: Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa (ILCAA).
Pado-Gekho
GekhoShintani Tadahiko. 2017. The Gokhu language. Linguistic survey of Tay cultural area (LSTCA) no. 111. Tokyo: Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa (ILCAA).
Padaung
Padaung (Kayan)
Gekho (Yathu Gekho)
Bwe
Bweba-Kayaw
Kayaw
Bweba
Geba
Bwe
Sgaw-Pwo
Pwo
Mobwa
Mopwa
BlimawShintani, Tadahiko. 2017. The Blimaw language. Linguistic survey of Tay cultural area (LSTCA) no. 112. Tokyo: Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa (ILCAA).
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),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). namely Kangan ("lowland dwellers"), Kakhaung ("highland dwellers"), Lawi ("South"), and Latha ("North"). 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.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). It has more Burmese than Shan influence. Thamidai is yet another Karenic language.Shintani, Tadahiko. 2020. The Thamidai language. Linguistic survey of Tay cultural area (LSTCA) no. 126. Tokyo: Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa (ILCAA).

Below is a classification of the Karenic languages by Hsiu (2019) based on a phylogenetic analysis of Shintani's published lexical data. The results support the overall structure of Shintani's (2012) classification.{{cite web|last=Hsiu|first=Andrew|url=https://sites.google.com/site/sinotibetanbranches/eastern-sino-tibetan/karenic|title=Karenic|work=Sino-Tibetan Branches Project|date=2019|access-date=2023-03-09}}

Karenic
Pa'o
Northern
Southern
Karen
Kayan (Padaungic)
Kayin Phyu
Yathu Gekho
Thaidai
Padaung cluster: Padaung, Yinbaw, Kangan ("lowland") Kayan, Kakhaung ("highland") Kayan
Gekho cluster: Gekho, Kadaw, Taungmying
Nagi (Nangki) Kayan
Latha ("North") Kayan, Zayein
Thamidai
Kayah (Karenni)
West Kayah, Manaw
Yingtalay
Manu-Bwe
Manu
Bwe
East Kayaw
West Kayaw
Bwe
Geba
Mopwa-Pwo-Sgaw
Mopwa, Blimaw
Pwo-Sgaw
Pwo
Sgaw cluster
Sgaw
Monebwa, Paku
Thalebwa

=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.{{cite journal|last1=Luangthongkum|first1= Theraphan|date= 2019|title= A View on Proto-Karen Phonology and Lexicon|journal=Journal of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society|volume=12|issue=1|pages= i–lii|issn=1836-6821|hdl=10524/52441|hdl-access=free}}

;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.