S'gaw Karen language

S'gaw Karen
S'gaw Karen
စှီၤ
Pronunciation	[sɣɔʔ]
Native to	Burma, Thailand
Ethnicity	S'gaw
Native speakers	(4 million cited 1983–2011)
Language family	Sino-Tibetan Karen languages Sgaw–Bghai S'gaw Karen; ; ;
Writing system	Burmese script (S'gaw alphabet); Karen Braille
Language codes
ISO 639-3	Variously:; ksw – S'gaw; jkp – Paku; jkm – Mopwa; wea – Wewaw
Glottolog	sout1554

S'gaw, also known as S'gaw Karen and S'gaw Kayin, is a Karen language spoken by over four million S'gaw Karen people in Burma, and 200,000 in Thailand. S'gaw Karen is spoken in Tanintharyi Region's Ayeyarwady Delta, Yangon Division, Bago Division, Western Thailand, Northern Thailand, and Kayin State. It is written using the Mon script. A Bible translation was published in 1853.

Various divergent dialects are sometimes seen as separate languages: Paku in the northeast, Mopwa (Mobwa) in the northwest, Wewew, and Monnepwa.^[2]

References

^ S'gaw at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
Paku at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
Mopwa at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
Wewaw at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
^ Christopher Beckwith, International Association for Tibetan Studies, 2002. Medieval Tibeto-Burman languages, p. 108.