Karenni languages

Karenni, also called Red Karen or, in Burmese, Kayah, is a dialect continuum of the Karen branch of Sino-Tibetan, within its Sgaw-Bghai group, spoken by more than half a million Kayah people mainly in Myanmar with additional speakers in Thailand. Its main varieties are Eastern Kayah, spoken in Kayah State's Shadaw township and Shan State's Langkho district with about 260,000 speakers in Myanmar and 100,000 in Thailand as of 2000, and Western Kayah, spoken across Kayah and Kayin States and Shan State's Pekon township with roughly 210,000 speakers in Myanmar as of 1987; the more localized Yintale and Kawyaw varieties are closely related to Western Kayah. Speakers write Karenni in the Kayah Li alphabet, in Latin script or in Myanmar script, though some varieties remain unwritten.