โครงการภาษาศาสตร์ภาษากะเหรี่ยง

Introduction of the Project

The Karen people, an indigenous ethnic group of the mainland of South East Asia, have established their settlements, from North to South, along the Thai-Burmese border since the pre-historic period. The population of this ethnic group in Burma is approximately 3.7 million (Ethnologue) and about 500,000 in Thailand. The Karen in Thailand are categorized into two groups. The first group has been here for a long time and some have thus become assimilated into the Thai way of life. These are the Pwo or the Phlong and the Sgaw or the Paganyaw. The second group consists of those who have recently migrated to Thailand for different reasons — fleeing from famine or the political unrest in Burma or being led into Thailand by people in the touring business. These are the Pa'O or the Tongthu, the Kayah, the Kayan or the Long-Necked Karen and the Kayaw or the Large Ear-lobed Karen.

The Karen belong to those ethnic groups that speak the Sino-Tibetan language; their way of life, beliefs, customs, traditions, rituals and rites as well as their costumes are unique. Academic research and studies have been conducted to provide background knowledge on these features and can be accessed through documentaries, various types of publication and websites, which have been created for academic and entertainment purposes. However, a selected bibliography (Manson, 2004) shows that, during the past fifty years, there has been only one piece of research on the acoustics of the Karen languages (Abramson, 1995); other studies relate to descriptive, comparative or historical linguistics, which are based on traditional linguistic theory.

Some questions are raised about any indirect benefit that may result from the outcome of research into the language spoken by the Karen in Mae Hongson Province and other provinces in the West of Thailand — whether the project will be able to propose a policy for the sustainable development of the Karen Community and whether it will be able to promote tourism in the provinces, using the Karen ethic group as a strategic business plan to promote tourism, while at the same time, enhancing their human dignity; their heart and soul as well as their art and culture.

The following are the objectives of the "Linguistics of the Karen Language" Project.

1. To analyze, in terms of the vowel system and acoustics, six groups of Karen languages; namely, the Sagaw, the Pwo, the Pa'O, the Kayah, the Kayan and the Kayaw, as well as to carry out comparative and historical studies in aspects that have never been pursued before in the field of linguistics, relying on linguistic problems that need to find answers. The research findings will be published in English in the form of articles.
2. To publish a book, with illustrations, in Thai and English, Stories from the Thai-Burmese Border Area: Sparks for Sustainable Development in order to present a perspective on a policy for the development of community and tourism in the provinces where the Karen live. The stories will be presented with emphasis on the Karen ethnic groups, Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn's private projects and the projects organized by her initiatives that aim to improve the Karen's quality of life.
3. To promote a better understanding among the different groups of people in the nation, who vary in language and culture, using the Karen as a case-study. The study will be conducted within the guidelines of linguists specializing in linguistic field work to demonstrate that "linguists can also contribute to the development of the country".

This research will rely on a mixed methodology, which involves the survey and analysis of information from related documents and field work involving interviews with Karen informants in areas that will be specified later after contact has been made with people, governmental and private units in order to ensure the academic appropriateness and safety of the field trips. The analysis of acoustic information will be based on instruments and computing programmes, as well as the linguistic theory and framework appropriate to each of the research topics.