Pa'O language

Not to be confused with other similarly named languages.

Pa'O
Taungthu
ပအိုဝ်ႏ
Pa'O manuscript
Native to	Myanmar
Ethnicity	Pa'O
Native speakers	(860,000 cited 2000–2017)[1]
Language family	Sino-Tibetan Tibeto-Burman Karenic Pa'O
Writing system	Burmese script (Pa'O alphabet) Karen Braille
Official status
Recognised minority language in	Myanmar
Language codes
ISO 639-3	blk
Glottolog	paok1235

The Pa'O language (also spelled Pa-O or Pa-oh; Pa'o Karen: ပအိုဝ်ႏဘာႏသာႏ, listen^ⓘ); Burmese: ပအိုဝ်းဘာသာ), sometimes called Taungthu, is a Karen language spoken by close to 900,000 Pa'O people in Myanmar.[1]

The language is primarily written using a Burmese script alphabet devised by Christian missionaries,[2][3] and many of the materials now available for it on the Internet derive from Christian missionary involvement, although most of the Pa'O are generally reported to be Buddhists (without real statistics, etc.).^[citation needed]

The language is also referred to by the exonyms "Black Karen" and "White Karen", both of which are terms used in contrast to "Red Karen" (Karenni), also of Myanmar.

Dialects include Taunggyi and Thaton.[4]

Phonology

The following displays the phonological features of the Pa'O (Taungthu) language:[5]

Consonants

		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Plosive	voiceless	p	t	c	k	ʔ
	aspirated	pʰ	tʰ	cʰ	kʰ
	voiced	b	d
Fricative			s			h
Nasal		m	n		ŋ
Trill			r
Approximant	lateral		l
	central	w		j

• /p, t, k, ʔ/ and /m, n, ŋ/ can occur as final consonants. Stops may also be heard as unreleased [p̚, t̚, k̚].

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
High	i	ʉ	u
High-mid	e		o
Mid		ə
Low-mid	ɛ		ɔ
Low		a
Glided	aⁱ		aᵘ

References

1. Pa'O at Ethnologue (26th ed., 2023)
2. "Pa-oh ပအိုဝ်း - Word List". Language Documentation Training Center. 3 October 2015. Archived from the original on 3 October 2015. Retrieved 21 March 2019.
3. "Pa-oh ပအိုဝ်း - Writing System". Language Documentation Training Center. 9 October 2015. Archived from the original on 9 October 2015. Retrieved 21 March 2019.
4. Shintani, Tadahiko. 2020. The Pao language: its Taunggyi and Kokareit dialects. Linguistic survey of Tay cultural area (LSTCA) no. 131. Tokyo: Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa (ILCAA).
5. Thanamteun, Orranat (2000). A phonological study of Pa-O (Taungthu) at Ban Huay Salop, Tambon Huay Pha, Muang district, Mae Hong Son province. Mahidol University.