Geba Karen language

Geba
Native to	Burma
Native speakers	40,000 (2010) [1]
Language family	Sino-Tibetan Karen languages Sgaw–Bghai Bghai Geba
Language codes
ISO 639-3	kvq
Glottolog	geba1237

Geba, also known as Eastern Bwe, is a Karen language of Burma.

Distribution

• Northern Kayin State: Thandaunggyi township (140 villages)
• Bago Region
• Mandalay Region: Pyinmana township
• Shan State: Pekon and Pinlaung townships
• Kayah State

Dialects

• Sawkho
• Gerkho-Geba
• Thamitaik (Sawkeepho)

Phonology

The consonant inventory of Geba is presented below. The consonants in parentheses occur rarely and confirming whether they are phonemes would require further research. ^[2]

		Labial	Dental	Alveolar	Palatal	Post-alveolar	Velar	Glottal
Plosives	Voiceless aspirated	pʰ		tʰ		tʃʰ	kʰ
	Voiceless unaspirated	p		t		( tʃ )	k	ʔ
	Voiced	b		d		dʒ	ɡ
Implosives		ɓ		ɗ
Fricatives	Voiceless aspirated			sʰ
	Voiceless unaspirated		θ	s		ʃ	( x )	h
	Voiced						( ɣ )	( ɦ )
Nasals	Voiceless	m̥		n̥
	Voiced	m		n			( ŋ )
Approximants	Voiceless	w̥		l̥
	Voiced	w		l	j
Trills				r

References

1. Geba at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
2. Shee, Naw Hsar (2008). A Descriptive Grammar of Geba Karen. Payap University. p. 43.

• Naw, Hsar Shee. 2008. A Descriptive Grammar of Geba Karen Archived 2018-06-12 at the Wayback Machine . Master's thesis, Payap University.

External links

• Geba Karen basic lexicon at the Global Lexicostatistical Database