The Karen, or Karenic, languages are tonal languages spoken by some 4.5 million Karen people, of unclear affiliation within the Sino-Tibetan languages and written using the Karen script. Their three main branches are Sgaw, Pwo and Pa O, with Karenni and Kayan also forming a branch of Karen languages. They are unusual among Sino-Tibetan languages in having subject-verb-object word order rather than the subject-object-verb order typical elsewhere in the family, likely through the influence of neighboring Mon and Tai languages.
Facts
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Classification Confidence Reconstructed Ancestor RegionSouth-eastern Myanmar and Western Thailand 2 Speaker Count Compare
Number of Languages Connections
Ancestor Of
Pwo Karen is one of the three primary branches of the Karenic (Karen) family, alongside Sgaw Karen and Pa'O; Karenic is itself a branch of Sino-Tibetan, linked here at the direct Karenic parent rather than the remoter Sino-Tibetan ancestor.
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Sources
1. Glottolog: Karenic (languoid record)
GlottologLanguoid record: child_language_count
"child_language_count": 20
Languoid record: level and category
"level": "family", "bookkeeping": false, "category": "Family"
View the Source 2. Karenic languages
Infobox: region
South-eastern Myanmar, Western Thailand
Infobox: protoname
Proto-Karenic
View the Source3. Karenic (Wikidata)
Wikimedia FoundationWikidata number of speakers (P1098) statement (EntityId 301670): 3000000Quote, Wikidata number of speakers (P1098) statement (EntityId 301670): 3000000
Wikidata item Q1364815, property P1098 (number of speakers): 3000000 (normal rank, non-deprecated)
Wikidata: Karenic
Wikidata Q1364815, class allow-list match (w-wdresolver-0926)View the Source Reader Challenges (0)
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