Kayah Li   Kayah Li

Kayah or Kayah Li is a member of Karen branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family. It is spoken by about 210,000 people in the Kayah and Karen states of Burma (Myanmar). The language and people who speak it are also known as Western Kayah, Karenni, Karennyi, Red Karen, Yang Daeng or Karieng Daeng.

The Kayah Li alphabet was devised by Htae Bu Phae in March 1962. It is taught in schools in refugee camps in Thailand. It appears to be modelled, to some extent, on scripts such as Thai and Burmese.

Notable features

Kayah Li alphabet

Download Kayah Li fonts (TrueType format, 37K)

Links

Information about the Kayah-li alphabet
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kayah_Li_script
http://std.dkuug.dk/jtc1/sc2/wg2/docs/n3038.pdf (PDF)

Information about the Karenni people
http://www.karenni.org/about_the_karenni.php

Information about the Kayah State
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kayah_State

Karenni Students Union (includes free Karenni/Kayah-li fonts)
http://www.karennisu.org

Sino-Tibetan languages

Sinitic (Chinese) languages

Dungan, Cantonese, Gan Hakka, Mandarin, Shanghainese, Taiwanese, Teochew, Xiang

Tibeto-Burman languages

Burmese, Dzongkha, Garo, Kayah Li, Lepcha, Limbu, Lisu, Manipuri, Naxi, Nepal Bhasa / Newari, Tangut, Tibetan, Tujia, Yi

Alphabets

Armenian, Avestan, Bassa (Vah), Beitha Kukju, Carian, Carpathian Basin Rovas, Coptic, Cyrillic, Dalecarlian runes, Elbsan, Etruscan, Fraser, Georgian (Asomtavruli & Nuskha-khucuri), Georgian (Mkhedruli), Glagolitic, Gothic, Greek, Hungarian Runes, Irish, Khazarian Rovas, Korean, Latin, Lycian, Lydian, Manchu, Meroïtic, Mongolian, N'Ko, Ogham, Old Church Slavonic, Oirat Clear Script, Old Italic, Old Permic, Orkhon, Phrygian, Pollard Miao, Runic, Santali, Somali, Sutton SignWriting, Tai Lue, Thaana, Todhri, Uyghur

Learn Chinese Characters with the Omniglot Chinese app