S'gaw Karen | |
---|---|
ကညီကျိာ်, K'nyaw | |
Pronunciation | [sɣɔʔ] |
Native to | Myanmar, Thailand |
Region | Kayin State, Myanmar Thailand Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India Malaysia |
Ethnicity | Karen |
Native speakers | 2.2 million (2010–2017) [1] |
Sino-Tibetan
| |
Mon–Burmese (S'gaw Karen alphabet) Latin script Karen Braille | |
Official status | |
Official language in | ![]() ( ![]() |
Recognised minority language in | |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-2 | kar |
ISO 639-3 | ksw – inclusive codeIndividual codes: ksw – S'gaw jkp – Paku jkm – Mopwa wea – Wewaw |
Glottolog | sout1554 |
![]() Karen languages | |
S'gaw Karen or S'gaw K'nyaw, commonly known simply as Karen, is a Sino-Tibetan language spoken by the S'gaw Karen people of Myanmar and Thailand. A Karenic branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family, S'gaw Karen is spoken by over 2 million people in Tanintharyi Region, Ayeyarwady Region, Yangon Region, and Bago Region in Myanmar, and about 200,000 in northern and western Thailand along the border near Kayin State. [1] It is written using the S'gaw Karen alphabet, derived from the Burmese script, although a Latin-based script is also in use among the S'gaw Karen in northwestern Thailand. [2] Additionally, the Kwekor script is used in Hlaingbwe Township. [3]
Various divergent dialects are sometimes seen as separate languages: Paku in the northeast, Mopwa (Mobwa) in the northwest, Wewew, and Monnepwa. [4]
S'gaw belongs to the Karenic branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family. The S'gaw language has been used as the official language in the Kayin State of Myanmar and of the Karen National Union (KNU) organization who have waged a war against the Burmese government since early 1949. A Bible translation was published in 1853. The first issue of the Karen-language monthly periodical, The Morning Star (Hsa Too Ghaw), was published in 1842. [5]
Christian missionaries, from the 19th century onward, have had a profound and lasting impact on the S'gaw Karen language, especially in the areas of literacy, orthography, and education. [5] Jonathan Wade, an American Baptist missionary, is credited with developing the first written script for the S'gaw Karen language in 1831–1832, adapting the Mon–Burmese script to fit S'gaw Karen phonology. [6] [7] Another American Baptist missionary, Francis Mason, led the work of producing the first translation of the Bible into S'gaw Karen. The full S'gaw Karen Bible was completed in 1853, becoming one of the earliest and most widely read texts in the language. [6] The Bible and other texts helped standardize vocabulary and orthography and provided a basis for literacy instruction. With a newly-devised script and a growing body of texts, missionaries established schools and seminaries that taught reading and writing in S'gaw Karen, often alongside English and Burmese. As a result, literacy rates among Christian Karen rose, and S'gaw Karen gained prestige as a language of education and religion. [7] Additionally, they compiled grammars, dictionaries, and textbooks, documenting the S'gaw Karen language in ways that were previously nonexistent. These linguistic resources continue to be used today in both academic research and community-based education. Missionaries working particularly on the S'gaw Karen language include Jonathan Wade, Francis Mason, and Emilie Ballard.
S'gaw is spoken in the Ayeyarwady delta area, in the Ayeyarwady, Bago, Kayin, and Rangon Regions. S'gaw speakers are frequently interspersed with Pwo Karen speakers.
S'gaw dialects are:
Paku is spoken in: [8]
Paku dialects are Shwe Kyin, Mawchi, Kyauk Gyi, Bawgali, the names of which are based on villages.
Mobwa is spoken in 9 villages at the western foot of the Thandaung Mountains in Thandaung township, Kayin State. [8] There are also some in Taungoo township, Bago Region.
Mobwa dialects are Palaychi (Southern Mobwa) and Dermuha (Southern Mobwa).
Karen people in the Andaman Islands : S'gaw Karen is also spoken in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Union Territory of India. [9] [10] The total population in the Andamans is about 2000 people, living in eight villages in the Mayabunder and Diglipur tehsils of the North and Middle Andaman district:
The S'gaw Karen language has at least 3 dialects. They are mutually intelligible to each other; however, there may be words that sound unfamiliar to one another.
The following displays the phonological features of present S'gaw Karen: [11]
Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Palatal- (alveolar) | Velar | Glottal | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | |||
Plosive/ Affricate | voiceless | p | t | tʃ | k | ʔ | |
aspirated | pʰ | tʰ | tʃʰ | kʰ | |||
voiced | b | d | |||||
Fricative | voiceless | θ | s | ʃ | x | h | |
voiced | ɣ | ɦ | |||||
Approximant | central | w | ɹ | j | |||
lateral | l |
Front | Central | Back | |
---|---|---|---|
High | i | ɨ | u |
High-mid | e | o | |
Mid | ə | ||
Low-mid | ɛ | ɔ | |
Low | a |
Ken Manson (2009) proposed a Karen tone box to help understand Karenic tonal diversity and classify Karenic languages. [12] It is similar to William Gedney's Tai tone box (see Proto-Tai language#Tones ). The tone box contains diagnostic words for use during field elicitation.
*A | *B | *B′ | *C | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Proto-aspirated | 1 (III) Water [*tʰi] | 4 (VI) Star [*sʰa] | 7 (Va) Bone [*kʰri] | 10 (VIII) Sky [*m̥oʔ] |
Proto-voiceless | 2 (II) Silver [*rɔn] | 5 (VIa) Egg [*ti] | 8 (V) Paddy [*pɨ] | 11 (VIIIa) Alcohol [*siʔ] |
Proto-voiced | 3 (I) Nest [*bwe] | 6 (IV) Sun [*mɤ] | 6 (IV) Sun [*mɤ] | 12 (VII) Monkey [*zoʔ] |
The S'gaw Karen alphabet consists of 25 consonants, 9 vowels, 5 tones and 5 medials. The Karen alphabet was derived from the Burmese script as created by the help of the American Baptist missionary Jonathan Wade in the early 1830s. [13] The Karen alphabet was created for the purpose of translating the Bible into the Karen language. S'gaw Karen script is written from left to right and requires no spaces between words, although modern writing usually contains spaces after each clause to enhance readability.
က k (k) | ခ kh (kʰ) | ဂ gh (ɣ) | ဃ x (x) | င ng (ŋ) |
စ s (s) | ဆ hs (sʰ) | ၡ sh (ʃ) | ည ny (ɲ) | |
တ t (t) | ထ hṭ (tʰ) | ဒ d (d) | န n (n) | |
ပ p (p) | ဖ hp (pʰ) | ဘ b (b) | မ m (m) |
ယ y (ʝ) | ရ r (r) | လ l (l) | ဝ w (w) | သ th (θ) |
ဟ h (h) | အ vowel holder (ʔ) | ဧ ahh (ɦ) |
Vowels can never stand alone and if a word starts with a vowel syllable, use the vowel carrier "အ" which is silent in order to write words that start with vowel.
ါ ah (a) | ံ ee (i) | ၢ uh (ə) | ု u (ɯ) | ူ oo (u) | ့ ae or ay (e) | ဲ eh (ɛ) | ိ oh (o) | ီ aw (ɔ) |
In S'gaw Karen, every syllable consists of a vowel, either alone, or preceded by a single or double consonant. A syllable always ends in a vowel. Every syllable may be pronounced in six different tones, the meaning varying according to the tone in which it is pronounced.
The number of tones and their pronunciation varies depending on the dialect. Below are the pronunciations of the tones in S'gaw Karen according to Gilmore (1898).
Tones | Description |
---|---|
ၢ် (အၢသံ) | is pronounced with a heavy falling inflection |
ာ် (အးသံ) | is pronounced abruptly, at a low pitch |
း (ဖျၢၣ်ဆံး) | is pronounced abruptly at an ordinary pitch |
ၣ် (ဟးသံ) | is pronounced with a falling circumflex inflection |
ၤ (က့ၣ်ဖိ) | is pronounced with a prolonged even tone |
When one consonant follows another with no vowel sound intervening, the second consonant is represented by a symbol, which is joined to the character representing the first consonant.
Medials | S'gaw Karen |
---|---|
ှ hg (ɣ) | ဂ |
ၠ y (j) | ယ |
ြ r (r~ɹ) | ရ |
ျ l (l) | လ |
ွ w (w) | ဝ |
The examples of writing the Karen alphabet are:
The Karen Latin alphabet has 24 consonants, 9 vowels and 5 tones. The tones are written with alphabetic letters.[ citation needed ]
Letter | K k | Hk hk | G g | Q q | Ng ng | C c | Hs hs | Ny ny | T t | Ht ht | D d | N n |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
IPA | k | kʰ | ɣ | x | ŋ | tʃ | s, sʰ | ɲ | t | tʰ | d | n |
Letter | P p | Hp hp | B b | M m | Y y | R r | L l | W w | S s | H h | Ee | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
IPA | p | pʰ | b | m | j | ɹ | l | w | s | h, ɦ | ɛ | a |
Vowels | A a | E e | I i | O o | U u | AI ai | EI ei | AU au | OO oo |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
IPA | a | ə | i | o | ɨ/ɯ | ɛ | e | ɔ | u |
Tones | V v | J j | X x | F f | Z z |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
![]() | This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (December 2018) |
In terms of linguistic typology, S'gaw Karen is an isolating language with scarce bound morphology and where most syllables can occur as independent words. The word order is subject–verb–object, which differs from other Tibeto-Burman languages, most of which are verb final. [14]
S'gaw Karen nouns are intrinsically neutral as to number, gender, and definiteness. Plural reference is achieved by using the plural marker တဖၣ် /təpʰà/. [15]
Like many East and Southeast Asian languages, S'gaw Karen uses classifiers to count objects expressed by count nouns, and measure words to quantify substances expressed by mass nouns. [16]
ဟံၣ်
hì
house
ခံ
kʰí
two
ဖျၢၣ်
pʰlə̀
CL
"two houses"
သကွံသၣ်
θəkwíθà
banana
တ-
tə-
one
ကဒိၣ်
kədò
CL
"a bunch of bananas"
S'gaw Karen has two demonstratives, အံၤ /ʔi/ 'this' and န့ၣ် /nè/ 'that', which follow the noun or the classifier phrase, if present. [17]
S'gaw Karen distinguishes between intransitive, transitive, and ditransitive verbs. Transitive and ditransitive verbs require one and two objects, respectively, while intransitive verbs do not take objects. As an isolating language, S'gaw Karen lacks case inflection in nouns. The function of a noun is determined by its position in the clause; generally, subjects precede the verb while objects follow it.
S'gaw Karen verbs do not inflect for tense or aspect; instead, these grammatical categories are expressed using separate words. [15]
Perfect aspect is expressed by the particle လံ /lí/, which indicates a change in the situation.
ယဖး
jə-pʰaˀ
I-read
လံာ်
liˀ
book
တဘ့ၣ်
tə-bè
one-CL
အံၤ
ʔī
this
ဝံၤ
wī
finish
လံ.
lí
lí.
"I have finished (reading) this book."
Prospective aspect is indicated by က /kə-/, which precedes the verb. Sentences with က are often translated using the future tense in English. [17]
ယ
jə-
I-
က
kə-
kə-
ဟး
haˀ
walk
ဃု
xɨ́
search
တၢ်မၤ.
tamā
job
"I will look for a job."
To negate a verb, the verb prefix တ /tə-/ and the final particle ဘၣ် /bà/ are used. [17]
ယ
jə-
I-
တ
tə-
NEG-
သ့ၣ်ညါ
θèɲá
know
ဘၣ်.
bà
NEG
"I don't know."
S'gaw Karen makes extensive use of verb serialization to express various grammatical meanings, such as causativity and benefaction. [18] [19]
Causative events, where a subject causes an object to perform an action or be in a state, are expressed using one of the verbs မၤ /mā/ 'make, cause' or ဒုး /dɨ/ 'let, have (someone do something)' before the main verb. [18] Which verb to use depends on whether or not the causer has direct and full control over the action; if not, and the causee has some control, ဒုး is used (indirect causation), otherwise မၤ is used (direct causation). [18] [20]
အဝဲ
ʔəwɛ́
3SG
မၤ
mā
CAUS
ပျံၤ
plī
be.afraid
ယၤ.
jā
1SG.OBJ
"He frightens me."
ဒုး
dɨ
CAUS
က့ၤ
kē
return
အီၤ.
ʔɔ̄
3SG.OBJ
"Get him to go home./Let him go home."
Benefaction refers to the performance of actions for someone's sake. In S'gaw Karen, benefactive clauses contain the verb န့ၢ် /ne/ 'get', which follows the main verb or verb compound. [21]
သီခါ
θɔkʰá
monk
စိာ်
soˀ
carry
န့ၢ်
ne
BEN
နၤ
nā
2SG.OBJ
နာ်
naˀ
basket
တ
tə-
one
ဖျၢၣ်.
pʰlə
CL
"The monk carried the basket for you."
S'gaw Karen personal pronouns are distinguished according to person and number, except for the third person, which sometimes has the same form for the singular and the plural. Additionally, all pronouns are gender-neutral; for example, the third-person pronoun အ /ʔə-/ has the meanings 'he, his', 'she, her', 'it, its', 'they, their'. [15] Below is a table showing the subject/possessive forms (ယ 'I; my', etcetera) and object forms (ယၤ 'me', etcetera) of the pronouns.
Person | Singular | Plural | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Subject/ possessive | Topic/object | Subject/ possessive | Topic/object | ||
First person | ယ (jə-) | ယၤ (jā) | ပ (pə-) | ပှၤ (pɣā) | |
Second person | န (nə-) | နၤ (nā) | သု (θɨ́) | သု (θɨ́) | |
Third person | အ* (ʔə-) | အီၤ* (ʔɔ̄) | အ** (ʔə-) | အီၤ** (ʔɔ̄) |
S'gaw Karen uses prepositions to indicate things such as the location, source, goal, or instrument of an action or situation. The most common S'gaw Karen prepositions are လၢ /lə/ 'at, to, from', ဖဲ /pʰɛ́/ 'at', ဆူ /sʰú/ 'to', ဒ် /di/ 'like, as', and ဒီး /dɔ/ 'with'.
ယ
jə-
1SG
လဲၤ
lɛ
go
ဆူ
sʰú
to
ဝ့ၢ်တကူၣ်.
wetəkù
Yangon
"I go to Yangon/Rangoon."
When the source or goal of an action is a person, the locational word အိၣ် /ʔò/ is used. [19]
ဟဲ
hɛ́
come
ဆူ
sʰú
to
ယ
jə-
1SG
အိၣ်.
ʔò
ʔò
"Come to me."