ART. III.-Short Vocabulary of Red Karen. By BERNARD HOUGHTON, M.R.A.S.

THE subjoined list of words is founded mainly on those of B. H. Hodgson, but certain omissions and additions have been made, with the object of showing only those words in common use which experience teaches are not easily altered or changed in the times of "storm and stress" through which most of the wilder tribes of Burma are passing, or which they have undergone at some previous stage of their history. In few parts of the world, indeed, has tribal conflict been more incessant than amongst the Mongoloid hillmen of S.E. Asia, or the conditions more favourable for the disintegration of old and the formation of new languages and dialects, hence the multiplication of the latter so frequently remarked on by philologists.

The Red Karen vocables now given have been kindly furnished me by the Rev. A. V. B. Crumb, of the American Baptist Mission, at Toungoo, Lower Burma. Mr. Crumb has not written the words in the English character, according to the usual scientific system of notation, and, indeed, states that there are sounds in Red Karen which cannot really be taken down in any known system of writing. On this point I would differ from him, but it is only fair to add that he has himself greatly simplified the process of final transcription of the words by taking the trouble to write them in the Sgaw Karen as well as in the Roman character. This double rendering of words in new languages and dialects is, undoubtedly, a great safeguard against their incorrect transcription, and many

errors and incorrect philological deductions might have been saved had all observers taken the same pains as Mr. Crumb to insure accuracy.

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Before discussing the Vocabulary now given, a few words as to the Red Karens themselves may not be out of place. These people (whose English name is a translation of the Burmese Kayin-ni-alluding to the colour of their turbans) inhabit the mountains and plateaux east of the British district of Toungoo, their country being bounded on the north by the Shan States and on the east by Siam. Until recently the great majority of them enjoyed independence under a king or Saw-pa, to whom, however, little or no taxes were paid, the royal revenues being chiefly drawn from a very lucrative trade in teak with Moulmein. few years ago, however, consequent on a frontier dispute, a British column entered the Red Karen country, deposed the Saw-pa (one Saw La-Paw), and set up his son Saw Law-I in his stead, on his undertaking to render allegiance to our Government. The latter this year successfully took up cudgels with Siam on Saw Law-I's behalf in a dispute about the boundary line, and Saw Law-I paid an amicable visit to the Chief Commissioner at Rangoon, so that until their next rebellion the Red Karens may be reckoned amongst the loyal subjects of the Queen.

There are as yet no reliable estimates as to the total numbers of this people, though rough approximations have been by the various Government officials who have visited their country. Some of them have now enlisted in the new Karen battalion which it is being attempted to form at Toungoo. The success of this battalion is, it may be remarked, still doubtful, as the Karens, equally with the Burmans, are extremely averse to the strict forms of discipline enacted in our army. They are inclined to take life very casually-in fact, as B. H. Hodgson put it with reference to some other sub-Himalayan tribes, they don't like to be fashed about anything.. Possibly the formation of a body of Karen irregular troops, to be employed chiefly in outpost work and as skirmishers, might meet with a

certain measure of success, provided it were officered by Europeans well acquainted with the Karens, and who knew at least the Sgaw dialect thoroughly. In regard to fighting capabilities the Red Karens are apparently superior to their congeners, and are well able to hold their own against the neighbouring tribes.

From the point of view of ethnology and folk-lore they are a most interesting race, whilst the written tablets treasured by them, concerning which I hope to make a subsequent communication, should shed some light on their previous history and civilization, such as it is. For the rest, there seems little doubt that, together with the other Karens and the Toungthus, they immigrated into Burma from N.E. Tibet or N.W. China in comparatively recent times, i.e. within the last 1000 years.

It appears from what Mr. Crumb writes that, besides the Red Karens proper, there are three other principal Karen dialects in the hills east of Toungoo, namely, those of the We-was, the Prës (sometimes called Breeks), and the Padaungs. The missionaries have decided, however, not to reduce any of these to writing, but are using SgawKaren everywhere in the schools, and are encouraging its use generally, so that as the country becomes Christianized there seems little doubt that this variety of Karen will eventually supersede the others, in spite of there being no Sgaw-Karens native to these hills.

In transcribing the words sent by Mr. Crumb I have, where the words in Roman and Sgaw Karen letters differed, generally followed the latter, as Mr. Crumb is undoubtedly more at home in this method of writing native words. At the same time there were several doubtful cases, particular with regard to the transliteration. of the Red Karen guttural corresponding with the Sgaw ʼn (7), e.g. hyö in "be silent" would seem to be almost better written yö, but as it is possible that the sonant y may in Red Karen follow h proper, equally with p or t, I have left it as it stood. (It may be noted here that in the Karen dialects y and x are gutturals and not palatals,

being formed well back in the mouth). The vowels have values usually attached in the accepted system of transliteration; but the vowel sound, as in the English word 'air,' is represented by ë, and that in 'awe,' by å.

Mr. Crumb styles Red Karen a dialect of Sgaw, but a short study of the words given will show that this is certainly not the case. Though it is probable that at one time the present different sub-divisions of Karen formed one language, yet, as might be expected from their isolated positions in the mountains, the Red Karens have conserved the old language to a considerably greater extent than their brethren in the plains. Indeed, considering the manner in which the Sgaws and Pwos have been interspersed with and broken up by the Burmans, it is surprising their languages still present such a close resemblance with that of their Red Karen brethren as this list of words shows.

A comparison of it with Sgaw and Pwo is interesting philologically, as showing the tendency of the latter (1) towards diphthongs instead of simple vowels (other than the neutral vowel '), and (2) towards simpler sounds generally, the Red Karen, although possessing no final consonants, being markedly more difficult to pronounce. Both these differences show the greater decrepitude, so to speak, of the Sgaw and Pwo, and emphasize the fact that languages, as well as people, can be aged by circumstances.

The differences from the Sgaw and Pwo in the actual roots or stems are greater amongst the verbs than amongst the nouns, which is indeed the case with almost all languages and dialects of the Tibeto-Burman stock. I believe this is due not so much to the evolution of new stems, but to the specialisation or generalisation in meanings of words possessing in the original hive or home allied and somewhat indefinite meanings. A comparison of the words under this head in some of the leading languages or dialects would doubtless prove an interesting study in sematology.

The Red Karen numerals show clear traces of a time when 5 (the number of the fingers) was the highest figure

known to them. It is evident also that, as in the cognate languages, there are numeral auxiliaries.

So far as this vocabulary shows the composition of the sentence, the post-position of the negative particle to (Sgaw ta), in contradistinction to the order observed in Sgaw, is noticeable. It can, indeed, I think, be predicated of these languages where the parts of speech are as yet, so to speak, still inchoate, and where one word can be used indifferently as noun, adverb, verb, adjective, or preposition, that the fixity in grammar and ideology observable in the Aryan languages is unknown, and need not be looked for. has been well emphasized by De Lacouperie in his "Languages of China before the Chinese" and elsewhere. The minds of these round-headed Mongoloids do not, in fact, seem capable of the sharp, incisive, and logical grasp of facts which is so distinguishing a feature of the longheaded Aryan.

This

Red Karen resembles Sgaw and Pwo in the construction of the relative, so sharply in contrast with that found universally in the cognate languages.

The Karens have, undoubtedly, as De Lacouperie remarks, been subjected to influences of some language of the MonAnnan (or Mon-Khmer) family, and it is probable that this particular construction may be due to that influence. It is curious, however, that in this point there is such a divergence between Cambodian and Annamite on the one hand, and Mon on the other. The Karens, owing to their late arrival in Burma, would naturally have been influenced only by the more northern tribes of this family.

In spite of the superficial resemblance of the Red Karen do to the Cambodian del or dā, I am not inclined to consider either it or the corresponding Sgaw lö to be a true relative pronoun, whatever may be the case in Cambodian or Annamite. The whole construction seems, in fact, to be a peculiar prepositional one, not really similar, in spite of its appearance, to that of the relative pronouns of the Indo-European family. This view, of course, is in no way antagonistic to the fact of the Karen construction being

J.R.A.S. 1894.

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