S'gaw Karen language

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. 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. 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. 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. 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. ==Distribution and varieties==

'''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: • Eastern dialect of S'gaw (Pa'an) • Southern dialect of Western Kayah (Dawei) • Delta dialect of S'gaw Paku is spoken in: • northern Kayin State: hills southeast of Taungoo in eastern Bago Region, bordering Kayin State • southern Kayah State (also known as Karenni State). Paku dialects are Shwe Kyin, Mawchi, Kyauk Gyi, Bawgali, the names of which are based on villages. • Kyauk Gyi and Shwe Kyin are spoken in Taungoo District, eastern Bago Region, near the Kayin State border. • Mawchi is spoken in Kayah State. • Bawgali is spoken in north Kayin State. Mobwa is spoken in 9 villages at the western foot of the Thandaung Mountains in Thandaung township, Kayin State. 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: • Mayabunder tehsil – Webi, Deopur, Lataw, Lucknow (Burmadera), Karmatang-9 and 10 • Diglipur tehsil – Borang, Chipon ==Dialects==

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. • Northern dialect – also known as southern dialect of Kayah State is the S'gaw dialect that does not have the th sound in their language or dialect. They replace the southern and eastern dialects th with s. For example: while the southern and eastern would say moe tha boe, the northern dialect would say moe sa boe. This dialect used the Roman alphabet for their writing system. • Southern dialect and '''Eastern (Pa'an) dialect''' – these two dialects are very similar but there may be words that each may not understand due to regional location which allowed the dialects to grow apart. These two dialects use the Myanmar script as their writing system. • There are also different accents in the Karen language. == Phonology ==

The following displays the phonological features of present S'gaw Karen: • /θ/ (သ) is pronounced [θ] in most Myanmar varieties and [s] in northern Thailand. Vowels • varies between central and , depending on the dialect. Tones Ken Manson (2009) proposed a Karen tone box to help understand Karenic tonal diversity and classify Karenic languages. 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. ==Alphabet (Burmese script)==

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. 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 has a sound intermediate between k and g; as in g for good • ခ is the aspirate of က. It is pronounced like kh as heard in the word camp. • ဂ has no analogue in English or German. See: voiced velar fricative • ဃ is pronounced like ch in the German bach, or the Scottish loch. • င is pronounced like ng as heard in sing • စ has a sound intermediate between s and z. • ဆ is the aspirate of စ. It has the sound of ssh, as heard in the phrase hiss him. • ၡ is pronounced like sh as heard in shell • ည is pronounced like ny as heard in canyon • တ has a sound intermediate between t and d; say t without air coming out • ထ is the aspirate of တ. It is pronounced like ht as heard in the word hot • ဒ is pronounced like d as heard in day • န is pronounced like n as heard in net • ပ has a sound intermediate between b and p; say p without air coming out • ဖ is pronounced like p as heard in pool • ဘ is pronounced like b in ball • မ is pronounced like m as heard in mall • ယ is pronounced like y as heard in backyard • ရ is pronounced like r as heard in room • လ is pronounced like l as heard in school • ဝ is pronounced like w as heard in wonderful • သ is pronounced like th as heard in thin • ဟ is pronounced like h as heard in house • အ as a consonant, has no sound of its own; it is a mere stem to which vowel signs are attached. Vowel carrier • ဧ is pronounced as a ɦ sound. See: breathy-voiced glottal approximant Vowels 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. • အ – a in quota • အါ – a in bad • အံ – i in mean • အၢ – German ö in Göthe • အု – German ü in Glück and Korean Hangul character "ㅡ" • အူ – u in rule, oo in moon • အ့ – a in rate • အဲ – e in met • အိ – o in note • အီ – aw in raw Tones 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). • Where no tone is marked, the syllable is pronounced with a rising inflection. Double consonants 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. The examples of writing the Karen alphabet are: • + → , pronounced • + + → , pronounced • + + → , pronounced • + + + → , pronounced ==Alphabet (Latin script)==

The Karen Latin alphabet has 24 consonants, 9 vowels and 5 tones. The tones are written with alphabetic letters. Consonants • K matches with the English word guard • Hk matches with the English word car • G does not have a sound similar to the European languages but matches with the other Karen alphabet of ဂ • Q matches with the German word bach • Ng matches with the English word young • C matches with the English ch • Hs has the same sound as S • Ny matches with the Spanish letter ñ • T have similar sound with English d but say it without air coming out • Ht matches with the English word tool • D have the same sound as English d • N matches with English N • P have similar sound to English p but say it without air coming out • Hp matches with English p • B matches with English b • M matches with English m • Y matches with English y • R matches with English r • L matches with English l • W matches with English w • S matches with English s; same sound as Hs • H matches with English h • EH has no analogue in the European languages • AH has no analogue in the European languages Vowels • A matches with the Italian a • E matches with the English word rust; uh • I matches with the Italian i • O matches with the Spanish o • U matches with the Korean romanization eu • AI matches with the English word sell • EI matches with the name Jay • AU matches with the English word fault • OO matches with the English word cool Tones • av or ă – high mid tone • aj or à – middle of the sound • ax or â – low tone; low voice in a short time • af or ä – high-pitched tone • az or ā – even tone ==Grammar==

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. Nouns and noun phrases S'gaw Karen nouns are intrinsically neutral as to number, gender, and definiteness. Plural reference is achieved by using the plural marker /təpʰà/. 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. {{fs interlinear|lang=ksw|indent=2 {{fs interlinear|lang=ksw|indent=2 S'gaw Karen has two demonstratives, /ʔi/ 'this' and /nè/ 'that', which follow the noun or the classifier phrase, if present. Verbs and verb phrases 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. 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, is used (indirect causation), otherwise is used (direct causation). {{fs interlinear|indent=2 {{fs interlinear|indent=2 Benefaction refers to the performance of actions for someone's sake. In S'gaw Karen, benefactive clauses contain the verb // 'get', which follows the main verb or verb compound. {{fs interlinear|indent=2 Pronouns 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 /ʔə-/ has the meanings 'he, his', 'she, her', 'it, its', 'they, their'. {{fs interlinear|indent=2 ==References==