Sino-Tibetan · ISO 639-3 ksw
S'gaw Karen Language ကညီကျိ
S'gaw Karen is a Sino-Tibetan language spoken by about 4.0 million people in 1 country. It is written in the Myanmar script.
Where S'gaw Karen is spoken
- Official language
- Regional official
- Spoken by 10%+
- 1–10%
- Smaller communities
Countries that speak S'gaw Karen
Language family
- Sino-Tibetan
- Karenic
- Southern Karen
- Sgaw
- S'gaw Karen
Writing system
Myanmar script
About the S'gaw Karen language
S'gaw Karen (ကညီကျိ) is spoken by about 4.0 million people, which makes it the 209th most spoken language in the world — just behind Northern Hindko (4.0 million) and ahead of Lithuanian (4.0 million). It belongs to the Sino-Tibetan language family and, more precisely, to the Sgaw group within the Southern Karen branch.
Where is S'gaw Karen spoken?
S'gaw Karen is used in 1 country. The largest communities live in Myanmar (1.5 million).
S'gaw Karen is not a national official language anywhere.
Writing system and status
S'gaw Karen is written in the Myanmar script. It is a safe, widely transmitted language: children still learn it at home as their first language.
ISO codes: ISO 639-3 ksw.
Frequently asked questions about S'gaw Karen
How many people speak S'gaw Karen?
Where is S'gaw Karen spoken?
What language family does S'gaw Karen belong to?
What is S'gaw Karen called in S'gaw Karen?
Is S'gaw Karen an endangered language?
Data: Languages of the World dataset (MIT) — ISO 639-3, Glottolog (CC BY 4.0), Unicode CLDR, Google LinguaMeta (CC BY 4.0) and Wikidata; country lists: samayo/country-json (MIT). Speaker numbers include first- and second-language speakers where sources report them.