The Karen languages are tonal languages spoken by some three million Karen people. They are of unclear affiliation within the Tibeto-Burman languages. The Karen languages are written using the Burmese script. The three main branches are Sgaw, Pwo, and Pa'o. Karenni (also known Kayah or Red Karen) and Kayan (also known as Padaung) are related to the Sgaw branch. They are almost unique among the Tibeto-Burman languages in having a Subject Verb Object word order; other than Karen and Bai, Tibeto-Burman languages feature a Subject Object Verb order . This is likely due to influence from neighboring Mon and Tai languages. The languages are also considered unusual for not having any Chinese influence.

Classification

Because they are linguistically conservative in many ways, Benedict (1972) removed the Karen languages from Tibeto-Burman in a Tibeto-Karen family, but this no longer seems justified.

The internal structure of the family is as follows:

• Pa’o

• Pwo (Eastern, Northern, Western, Phrae)

• Sgaw-Bghai

• *Bghai (Lahta, Padaung, Bwe, Geko, Geba)

• *Brek

• *Kayah (Eastern Kayah, Western Kayah, Yinbaw, Yintale, Manumanaw)

• *Sgaw (Sgaw, Paku, Mopwa, Wewaw)