Karen (ကညီကျိာ်)

Karen is a group of languages spoken by around 3 million people in Burma and Thailand. They are thought to be related to the Tibeto-Burman language family, though it is unclear exactly how. They are spoken by the Karen people, who are also known as Kayin or Kariang in English, Per Ploan Poe or Ploan in Poe Karen, and Pwa Ka Nyaw or Kanyaw in Sgaw Karen, and who live mainly in Karen State in the south and southeast of Burma (Myanmar), and also in Thailand.

The are three main branches of Karen: Pa'o, Pwo and Sgaw.

Pa'o

Pa'o is spoken in Burma by about half a million people, and is also known as Black Karen or White Karen.

Pwo

There are four languges within the Pwo Karen branch, with only marginal mutual intelligible between them: Eastern Pwo, Western Pwo, Northern Pwo, Phrae Pwo. They are spoken by the Pwo Karen people in eastern parts of Burma and western and northern parts of Thailand, and are known as Phlou or Ka Phlou ("Karen" or "human beings").

Sgaw (ပှၤကညီဖိ)

Sgaw, which is also known as S'gaw, S'gaw Karen or S'gaw Kayin, is spoken by over one million people in Burma, and Thailand. It is written using the Mon script. Some dialects of Sgaw are sufficiently different to be considered separate languages by some: Paku, Mopwa (Mobwa), Wewew and Monnepwa.

Sgaw Karen alphabet and pronunciation

Sources: http://www.drumpublications.org/download/transliterate.pdf & http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks09/0900201p.pdf

Hear the Sgaw Karen alphabet

Sample text in Sgaw Karen

Sample text in Pwo Karen

Translation

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)

Sample video in Pwo Karen

Sample video in Sgaw Karen

Information about Karen | Tower of Babel

Links

Information about the Karen languages

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karen_languages

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S'gaw_Karen_language

http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenguas_kar%C3%A9nicas

Karen language courses

http://www.drumpublications.org/speakkaren.php

http://ktwg.org/Library/KTWG Karen Language Course.pdf

Karen phrases

http://www.drumpublications.org/speakkaren.php

http://www.cdc.gov/tb/publications/guidestoolkits/ethnographicguides/burma/chapters/appendixe.pdf

Karen dictionaries

http://sealang.net/karen/dictionary.htm

http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks08/0801341p.pdf

A Grammar of Sgaw Karen (PDF)

http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks09/0900201p.pdf

Children's books in Karen

https://reader.letsreadasia.org/?&lId=5738196700758016

Type Karen online

http://lixwa.com/

Karen Teacher Working Group

http://ktwg.org

Tibeto-Burman languages

Achang, Arakanese, Balti, Bantawa, Bisu, Drung, Dzongkha, Garo, Hajong, Hani, Hmar, Jingpho, Karen, Kayah Li, Ladakhi, Lahu, Lepcha, Lhomi, Limbu, Lipo, Lisu, Magar, Manipuri, Marma, Mro, Naxi, Newar, Sikkimese, Sunuwar, Tangkhul Naga, Tibetan, Tshangla, Tujia, Yi, Yolmo

Languages written with the Burmese script

Arakanese, Burmese, Jingpho, Karen, Marma, Palaung

Ahom, Badaga, Balinese, Batak, Baybayin (Tagalog), Bengali, Bilang-bilang, Bima, Blackfoot, Brahmi, Buhid, Burmese, Carrier, Chakma, Cham, Cree, Dehong Dai, Devanagari, Ditema, Dives Akuru, Dogra, Ethiopic, Evēla Akuru, Fraser, Gond, Goykanadi, Grantha, Gujarati, Gunjala Gondi, Gupta, Gurmukhi, Hanifi, Hanuno'o, Ibalnan, Inuktitut, Javanese, Jenticha, Kaithi, Kadamba, Kannada, Kawi, Kerinci, Kharosthi, Khema, Khe Phri, Khmer, Khojki, Kulitan, Lampung, Lanna, Lao, Lepcha, Limbu, Lontara/Makasar, Lota Ende, Magar Akkha, Malayalam, Manpuri, Meroïtic, Masarm Gondi, Modi, Mon, Mongolian Horizontal Square Script, Nandinagari, Newa, Ojibwe, Odia, Pahawh Hmong, Pallava, Phags-pa, Ranjana, Redjang, Sasak, Satera Jontal, Shan, Sharda, Siddham, Sindhi, Sinhala, Sorang Sompeng, Sourashtra, Soyombo, Sundanese, Syloti Nagri, Tagbanwa, Takri, Tamil, Thaana, Telugu, Thai, Tibetan, Tigalari (Tulu), Tikamuli, Tocharian, Tolong Siki, Varang Kshiti

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