Appendix:Proto-Karenic reconstructions

This list of Proto-Karenic (Proto-Karen) reconstructions is from Luangthongkum (2019).

Classification
Luangthongkum (2019) recognizes three branches of Proto-Karen, namely Northern, Central, and Southern, but is agnostic about how the three branches fit together.


 * Karenic
 * Northern
 * Northern Pa-O
 * Southern Pa-O
 * Central
 * Kayan
 * Kayah
 * Western Bwe (Blimaw, Geba)
 * Kayaw
 * Southern
 * Northern Sgaw
 * Southern Sgaw
 * Northern Pwo
 * Southern Pwo

Note: Western Bwe Karen (Blimaw, Geba) preserves the implosives or preglottalised obstruents ɓ/ʔb and ɗ/ʔd, as well as voiceless sonorants such as hn, hl, and so forth.

Data sources
With the exception of Western Bwe, which is drawn from Henderson (1997), all of the Karen data was collected by Luangthongkum from field locations in Thailand.

Phonology
The phonology of Proto-Karen is as follows:

Consonant clusters

 * *Cw-


 * *Cl-


 * *Cr-


 * *Crw-
 * *khrw


 * *Cj-

Rimes

 * *-C
 * *-K, (*-p), *-t, *-k, *-ʔ
 * *-N, *-m, *-n, *-ŋ
 * *-j, *-w


 * Type I: *-V


 * Type II: *-VN


 * Type III: *-V(j/w)


 * Type IV: *-VC

Tones
Tones A (modal), B, and D (checked) can be reconstructed for Proto-Karen.

The Proto-Karen tone box template is:

Proto-Tibeto-Burman reflexes
Proto-Karen reconstructions that have reflexes in Proto-Tibeto-Burman (Matisoff 2003).