Geba, also known as Eastern Bwe, is a Karen language of Burma.
| Geba | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Burma |
Native speakers | 40,000 (2010)[1] |
Sino-Tibetan
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | kvq |
| Glottolog | geba1237 |
Distribution
edit- Northern Kayin State: Thandaunggyi township (140 villages)
- Bago Region
- Mandalay Region: Pyinmana township
- Shan State: Pekon and Pinlaung townships
- Kayah State
Dialects
edit- Sawkho
- Gerkho-Geba
- Thamitaik (Sawkeepho)
Phonology
editThe consonant inventory of Geba is presented below. The consonants in parentheses occur rarely and confirming whether they are phonemes would require further research.[2]
| 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
edit- ^ Geba at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ^ Shee, Naw Hsar (2008). A Descriptive Grammar of Geba Karen. Payap University. p. 43.
- Naw, Hsar Shee. 2008. A Descriptive Grammar of Geba Karen Archived 2018-06-12 at the Wayback Machine. Master's thesis, Payap University.