Kayaw language

Karen language spoken in Burma


title: "Kayaw language" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["karenic-languages"] description: "Karen language spoken in Burma" topic_path: "linguistics" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kayaw_language" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Karen language spoken in Burma ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox language"]

FieldValue
nameKayaw
nativenameBrek
statesMyanmar
ethnicityBwe people
speakers17,000
date1983 census
refe18
familycolorSino-Tibetan
fam2(Tibeto-Burman)
fam3Karen languages
fam4Sgaw–Bghai
iso3kvl
glottobrek1238
glottorefnameBrek Karen
::

|name=Kayaw |nativename=Brek |states=Myanmar |region= |ethnicity=Bwe people |speakers=17,000 |date=1983 census |ref=e18 |familycolor=Sino-Tibetan |fam2=(Tibeto-Burman) |fam3=Karen languages |fam4=Sgaw–Bghai |iso3=kvl |glotto=brek1238 |glottorefname=Brek Karen

Brek, also known as Brek Karen, Bre, and Kayaw, is a Karen language of Burma.

Distribution

Dialects

  • Bwe-Kayaw
  • Upper Kayaw (standardized variety used for literature)
  • Lower Kayaw

Writing system

::data[format=table title="Kayaw alphabet{{sfn|Kayaw Ethnic Literature and Cultural Central Committee|SIL International|2017}}"]

MajusculesMinuscules
AǍ
aǎ
::

References

Works cited

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::

karenic-languages