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Karenni
Kayah
ꤊꤢꤛꤢ꤭ ꤜꤟꤤ꤬ ကယး လီူး; ကရင်နီ
Native to	Burma, Thailand
Ethnicity	Karenni
Native speakers	187,000 (2000–2007)
Language family	Sino-Tibetan Karen languages Sgaw–Bghai Karenni
Writing system	Kayah Li (eky,kyu) Latin (kyu,kxf) Myanmar (kyu,kxf) unwritten (kvy)
Official status
Recognised minority language in	Thailand  Myanmar
Language codes
ISO 639-3	Variously: eky – Eastern Kayah kyu – Western Kayah kvy – Yintale kxf – Manumanaw (Manu)
Glottolog	kaya1317  Kayah yint1235  Yintale Karen manu1255  Manumanaw Karen

Karenni or Red Karen (Kayah Li: ꤊꤢꤛꤢ꤭ ꤜꤟꤤ꤬; Burmese: ကရင်နီ), known in Burmese as Kayah (Burmese: ကယား), is a Karen dialect continuum spoken by over half a million Kayah people (Red Karen) in Burma.

The name Kayah has been described as "a new name invented by the Burmese to split them off from other Karen".

Eastern Kayah is reported to have been spoken by 260,000 in Burma and 100,000 in Thailand in 2000, and Western Kayah by 210,000 in Burma in 1987. They are rather divergent. Among the Western dialects are Yintale and kayahManu (Manumanaw in Burmese).

Distribution and varieties

Eastern Kayah is spoken in:

• Shadaw township, Kayah State (east of the Thanlwin River)
• Langkho district, Shan State

Eastern Kayah dialects are Upper Eastern Kayah and Lower Eastern Kayah, which are mutually intelligible. The speech variety of Huai Sua Thaw village (Lower Eastern) is prestigious for both dialect groups. The Eastern Kayah have difficulty understanding the Western Kayah.

Western Kayah is spoken in Kayah State and Kayin State, east of the Thanlwin River. It is also spoken in Pekon township in southern Shan State.

• northern dialect: Shan State (north of Loikaw)
• southern dialect: Hpruso and Dimawso townships (south of Loikaw)

Western Kayah dialects are part of a dialect continuum of Central Karen varieties stretching from Thailand. They include:

• Northern dialect of Western Kayah
• Southern dialect of Western Kayah
• Dawtama
• Dawnnyjekhu
• Sounglog
• Chi Kwe
• Wan Cheh

Yintale, reportedly a variety of Western Kayah, is spoken in 3 villages of Hpasawng township, Bawlakhe district, Kayah State.

Yintale dialects are Bawlake and Wa Awng.

Kawyaw, reportedly similar to Western Kayah, is spoken in 23 villages along the border of Bawlake and Hpruso townships, in the West Kyebogyi area of Kayah State.

Kawyaw dialects are Tawkhu and Doloso, which have been reported to be difficult to mutually understand.

Phonology

Consonants

• /sʰ/ is heard as a palato-alveolar before high-front vowels.
• /ŋ/ is heard as a palatal before front or mid vowels.
• /ɾ/ may also be heard as a trill .

• /tɕ/ may also be occasionally be realized as .
• /j/ may also be heard as a palatal fricative .
• /ŋ/ may also be heard as palatal when before front vowels and /j/.
• /ɻ/ may also be heard as a trill among emphatic speech.
• /w/ may also be heard as in free variation.
• A glottal stop is heard in zero-initial position before an initial vowel.

Vowels

Western

Eastern

• /ə/ may also be heard as a centralized .

Writing system

According to Aung 2013, Manumanaw Karen does not yet have a standardized script. Catholic missionaries developed a spelling using the Latin script which is used in religious documents, including the translation of the Bible. A Manumanaw Karen literature committee has been set up and is developing literacy programs with SIL, using spelling based on Burmese script , so that it is accepted by Catholics and Baptists.

The tones are indicated using the caron, the acute accent or without the addition of these on the vowels: ⟨á, é, è́, í, î́, ó, ố, ò́, ú, û́⟩, ⟨ǎ, ě, è̌, ǐ, î̌, ǒ, ô̌, ò̌, ǔ, û̌⟩. The diaeresis below is used to indicate the breathy voice on the vowels: ⟨a̤, e̤, i̤, o̤, ṳ⟩.

Seven digraphs are used.

The five vowels of the alphabet are supplemented by four accented letters representing their own vowels.

Tones are represented using the acute accent and the caron over the vowel. The breathy voice is indicated with an umlaut below the vowel letter. Breathy voiced vowel letters can also have a diacritic indicating the tone.

References

1. ^ Eastern Kayah at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
   Western Kayah at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
   Yintale at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
   Manumanaw (Manu) at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
2. Christopher Beckwith, International Association for Tibetan Studies, 2002. Medieval Tibeto-Burman languages, p. 108.
3. ^ Bryant, John R. (1996). Notes on Western Kayah Li (Western Red Karen) phonology. PYU Working Papers in Linguistics 1: Payap University. pp. 66–104.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
4. ^ Wai, Lin Aung (2013). A descriptive grammar of Kayah Monu. Chiang Mai: Payap University.
5. ^ Solnit, David B. (1986). A grammatical sketch of Eastern Kayah (Red Karen). University of California at Berkeley.
6. Aung, Wai Lin (2013). "A Descriptive Grammar of Kayah Monu (Master's thesis)" (PDF). Payap University. p. 14.

Further reading

• Kirkland, Cortney, and Erin Dawkins. 2007. A Sociolinguistic survey of Eastern Kayah Li in Thailand. Chiang Mai: Payap University.
• Shintani Tadahiko. 2018. The Yintalay language. Linguistic survey of Tay cultural area (LSTCA) no. 115. Tokyo: Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa (ILCAA).

External links

• "E-books for children with narration in Karenni". Unite for Literacy library. Retrieved 2014-06-21.
• Eastern Kayah Li basic lexicon at the Global Lexicostatistical Database

v t e Sino-Tibetan branches
Western Himalayas (Himachal, Uttarakhand, Nepal, Sikkim)	West Himalayish Tamangic Newaric Newar Baram–Thangmi Kiranti Dhimalish Dhimal Toto Lhokpu Lepcha Greater Magaric Magaric Magar Kham Chepangic Chepang Bhujel Raji–Raute Dura–Tandrange
Eastern Himalayas (Tibet, Bhutan, Arunachal)	Bodish Tibetic East Bodish Tshangla Basum Nam? Gongduk ʼOle Tani Chamdo
Myanmar and Indo- Burmese border	Karbi Kuki-Chin Mruic Mru Hkongso Pyu Taman "Naga" Ao Angami–Pochuri Meitei Tangkhulic Zeme Sal Boro–Garo Konyak Jingpho–Luish
East and Southeast Asia	Sinitic Bai Tujia Nungish Karenic Gong Kathu Cai–Long Caijia Longjia Luren Burmo-Qiangic Qiangic Gyalrongic Ersuic Naic Lolo-Burmese Mondzish Burmish Loloish
Dubious (possible isolates) (Arunachal)	Hrusish Hruso Mijiic Kho-Bwa Puroik Miju–Meyor Songlin Greater Siangic Siangic Koro Milang Idu–Taraon
Proposed groupings	Central Tibeto-Burman Kuki-Chin–Naga Macro-Bai Mahakiranti Rung Tibeto-Burman Tibeto-Kanauri
Proto-languages	Proto-Sino-Tibetan Proto-Tibeto-Burman Proto-Loloish Proto-Karenic Proto-Min Proto-Hakka
Italics indicates single languages that are also considered to be separate branches.

• Karenic languages