Lahta, or Zayein, is a
Karenic language
The Karen () or Karenic languages are tonal languages spoken by some seven million Karen people. They are of unclear affiliation within the Sino-Tibetan languages. The Karen languages are written using the Karen script. The three main branches ...
of
Burma
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...
.
Distribution
Lahta is spoken in:
*
Shan State
Shan State ( my, ရှမ်းပြည်နယ်, ; shn, မိူင်းတႆး, italics=no) also known by the Endonym and exonym, endonyms Shanland, Muang Tai, and Tailong, is a administrative divisions of Myanmar, state of Myanmar. ...
:
Pekhon (Phaikum)
[Shintani Tadahiko. 2014. ''The Zayein language''. Linguistic survey of Tay cultural area (LSTCA) no. 102. Tokyo: Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa (ILCAA).] and
Pinlaung
Pinlaung is a town above sea level and seat of Pinlaung Township, in the Pa-O Self-Administered Zone of Shan State of eastern-central Burma. It lies along National Road 54, north-west by road from Loikaw. Running through the city center is a rai ...
townships
*
Mandalay Region
Mandalay Region ( my, မန္တလေးတိုင်းဒေသကြီး, ; formerly Mandalay Division) is an administrative divisions of Myanmar, administrative division of Myanmar. It is located in the center of the country, bordering ...
:
Pyinmana
Pyinmana (, ; population: 100,000 (2006 estimate)) is a logging town and sugarcane refinery center in the Naypyidaw Union Territory of Myanmar. The administrative capital of Myanmar was officially moved to a militarized greenfield site (which the ...
township
Zayein is spoken in between
Mobye and
Phekon towns in southern
Shan State
Shan State ( my, ရှမ်းပြည်နယ်, ; shn, မိူင်းတႆး, italics=no) also known by the Endonym and exonym, endonyms Shanland, Muang Tai, and Tailong, is a administrative divisions of Myanmar, state of Myanmar. ...
. Zayein may be a dialect of Lahta.
References
*Ywar, Naw Hsa Eh. 2013.
A Grammar of Kayan Lahta'. Master’s thesis, Payap University.
*Shintani Tadahiko. 2014. ''The Zayein language''. Linguistic survey of Tay cultural area (LSTCA) no. 102. Tokyo: Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa (ILCAA).
{{Languages of Burma
Karenic languages