Bwe Karen language

Not to be confused with Brek language.

Bwe, also known as Bwe Karen and Bghai (Baghi), is a Karen language of Burma. It shares 82 to 100% lexical similarity with Geba Karen language.^[2]

Bwe
Bghai
Native to	Burma
Ethnicity	Bwe people
Native speakers	(17,000 cited 1997)[1]
Language family	Sino-Tibetan (Tibeto-Burman) Karen languages Sgaw–Bghai Bghai Bwe
Language codes
ISO 639-3	bwe
Glottolog	bwek1238

Distribution

• Kayin State: Thandaung township (about 100 villages)^[3]
• Kayah State: Hpruso township^[4]
• Bago Region: Taungoo and Hpa-An townships^[5]

Dialects

Dialects are Western Bwe Karen and Eastern Bwe Karen. Most comprehend the Western Bwe Karen dialect.

Phonology

Consonants^[6]

	Labial	Dental	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Plosive	p b	t d	c ɟ	k g	(ʔ)
Aspirated	pʰ	tʰ	(cʰ)	kʰ
Implosive	ɓ	ɗ
Fricative		θ	ʃ	x	h
Nasal	m	n
Approximant	w ˀw	l r	j ˀj	ɰ

• /cʰ/ may be an allophone of /tʰ/, appearing before the vowels /i ɪ/.
• /ʔ/ only appears in the onset when vowels occur word-initially.
• /x/ appears rarely.

Vowels^[6]

	Front	Central	Back
High	i		u
Near-high	ɪ		ʊ
Mid-high	e	(ə)	o
Mid-low	ɛ		ɔ
Low		a

• /ə/ only appears in unstressed syllables.

Bwe Karen also has three tones;^[6] high, mid, and low.