Geba Karen language

Geba
Native to	Burma
Native speakers	40,000 (2010)
Language family	Sino-Tibetan Karen languages Sgaw–Bghai Bghai Geba
Language codes
ISO 639-3	kvq
Glottolog	geba1237

Geba, also known as Eastern Bwe, is a Karen language of Burma.

Distribution

• Northern Kayin State: Thandaunggyi township (140 villages)
• Bago Region
• Mandalay Region: Pyinmana township
• Shan State: Pekon and Pinlaung townships
• Kayah State

Dialects

• Sawkho
• Gerkho-Geba
• Thamitaik (Sawkeepho)

Phonology

The consonant inventory of Geba is presented below. The consonants in parentheses occur rarely and confirming whether they are phonemes would require further research.

		Labial	Dental	Alveolar	Palatal	Post-alveolar	Velar	Glottal
Plosives	Voiceless aspirated	pʰ		tʰ		tʃʰ	kʰ
	Voiceless unaspirated	p		t		(tʃ)	k	ʔ
	Voiced	b		d		dʒ	ɡ
Implosives		ɓ		ɗ
Fricatives	Voiceless aspirated			sʰ
	Voiceless unaspirated		θ	s		ʃ	(x)	h
	Voiced						(ɣ)	(ɦ)
Nasals	Voiceless	m̥		n̥
	Voiced	m		n			(ŋ)
Approximants	Voiceless	w̥		l̥
	Voiced	w		l	j
Trills				r

References

• Naw, Hsar Shee. 2008. A Descriptive Grammar of Geba Karen Archived 2018-06-12 at the Wayback Machine. Master's thesis, Payap University.

External links

• Geba Karen basic lexicon at the Global Lexicostatistical Database