Journal of Research Institute Vol.63 (2022) 143

CHAPTER 6
Eastern Pwo Karen Verb Particles Indicating‘Up’ and ‘Down’
Atsuhiko Kato
[ABSTRACT]
Eastern Pwo Karen has the verb particles tháɴ ‘up’ and làɴ ‘down’ derived fromthe verbs tháɴ ‘ascend’ and làɴ ‘descend’. These verb particles have six basic
uses that can be classified based on the meanings they exhibit: Directional,
Inchoative, Intensive, Restrictive, Integrated, and Special. Furthermore,
Directional usage can be classified into three categories and Inchoative into two,
resulting in a total of nine different uses. All Eastern Pwo Karen verbs can bedivided into eleven groups, based on the criteria regarding which of the nine uses
the verb particles tháɴ and làɴ exhibit when co-occurring with them, or do not
co-occur with them. This article discusses in detail the meanings of the abovenine uses, and further discusses the characteristics of the eleven verb groups. It
also clarifies, as one of its conclusions, whether or not a verb can co-occur withthese verb particles is unpredictable.

1. Introduction

Pwo Karen belongs to the Karenic branch of the Tibeto-Burman languages (cf.
Matisoff 2003). It is an analytic SVO (subject-verb-object) type language, which
does not have a tense or person marking on the predicate. These are characteristics
shared by all Karenic languages (see Kato 2021). This article deals with the Hpa-an
dialect of Pwo Karen, which belongs to the Eastern Pwo Karen group. The Hpa-an
dialect is spoken around Hpa-an, the capital city of Karen State, Myanmar. This
dialect belongs to the Eastern Pwo Karen group; for the classification of the Pwo
Karen dialects, see Kato (2009), in which Western Pwo Karen, Htokilibang Pwo
Karen, Eastern Pwo Karen, and Northern Pwo Karen are proposed. West-Central
Thailand Pwo Karen reported by Phillips (2018) seems to be a variation of Pwo
Karen, which seems very close to Eastern Pwo Karen. For an overview of thephonology and morphosyntax of the Hpa-an dialect, see Kato (2017, 2019b).
Hereafter, the Hpa-an dialect of Pwo Karen is referred to as EPK (Eastern Pwo
Karen).
This study aims to examine what verbs the EPK verbal particles tháɴ ‘up’ andlàɴ ‘down’ can co-occur with, and what meanings they exhibit when they co-occur
with a verb. A similar study was conducted by Kato (2013) on Western Pwo Karen.
However, EPK has been briefly discussed only by Kato (2004). This study is much
more detailed than that of Kato (2004).
As shown in Kato (2021, 2022), the basic structure of an EPK clause can be
represented as in Figure 1:

144 Atsuhiko KATO

(NP1) (verb particle(s)) V (verb particle(s)) (NP2) (NP3) (adverbial elements)
Figure 1: Basic structure of the Eastern Pwo Karen clause
NP1 is the subject; NP2 is the indirect object and NP3 is the direct object. V(= verb)
appears after the subject. A verb particle is a particle that appears before or after V.
The underlined part is called the verb complex. A concatenated type of verb
serialization (see Kato 2017, 2019b) can appear in the V position. Kato (2004) lists
eleven verb particles that appear before the verb and fifty verb particles that appear
after the verb. Between the elements of a verb complex, noun phrases never appear.
For example, the following sentence (1), also used in Kato (2021, 2022), would help
in understanding the structure of a clause more clearly. The forms mә, indicating
irrealis, and bá, indicating opportunity, appearing before and after the verb ʔáɴ ‘eat’,are verb particles.
(1) nә

2SG

mә

IRR

ʔáɴ bá
eat

OPP

kʊ́

cake

ʔáʔá

much

lә́

LOC

jә

1SG

ɣéiɴ

house

phә̀ɴ

insideɕī̱too‘You will also get a chance to eat a lot of cake inside my house.’

The functional words tháɴ ‘up’ and làɴ ‘down’ discussed in this article are verb
particles that appear after the verb, like the verb particle bá in (1). Let us look at an
example. Sentences (2) and (3) shown below are examples of tháɴ and làɴ,
respectively. In both the examples, these verb particles appear after the verb ɣɛ̂. The
particle tháɴ in (2) represents an upward direction, while làɴ in (3) represents a
downward direction. Since direction is the most concrete of the meanings that theseverb particles express, in this article, the verb particles tháɴ and làɴ are glossed as‘up’ and ‘down’, respectively.
(2) ʔәwê ɣɛ̂
tháɴ lә́
jә
dàʊ
phә̀ɴ
3SG come up
LOC 1SG room inside‘He came up to my room.’(3) ʔәwê ɣɛ̂
làɴ
lә́
jә
dàʊ
phә̀ɴ
3SG come down LOC 1SG room inside‘He came down to my room.’
The verb particles tháɴ and làɴ are derived from the verbs tháɴ ‘ascend, rise,
climb’ and làɴ ‘descend, drop’, respectively. The verb tháɴ denotes an upward
movement, while làɴ denotes a downward movement. Examples (4) and (5) are of
the verbs tháɴ and làɴ:(4) lәnìjò thîtháɴ
today water ascend‘Today, the water level rose.’Eastern Pwo Karen Verb Particles Indicating ‘Up’ and ‘Down’ 145(5) lәnìjò thîlàɴ
today water descend‘Today, the water level dropped.’
Let us briefly discuss the grammaticalization of tháɴ and làɴ in two aspects. First,
the verb particles tháɴ and làɴ, as in (2) and (3), have phonological features notfound in the verbs tháɴ and làɴ, as in (4) and (5). That is, the verb particle tháɴ may
be pronounced láɴ or ʁáɴ, and the verb particle làɴ may be pronounced ʁàɴ. For
example, the verb complex ɣɛ̂ tháɴ (come / up) ‘come up’ in (2) may be pronounced
ɣɛ̂ láɴ or ɣɛ̂ ʁàɴ. Similarly, ɣɛ̂ làɴ (come / down) ‘come down’ in (3) may bepronounced ɣɛ̂ ʁàɴ. This phonological phenomenon is observed very frequently in
any of the uses of tháɴ and làɴ described in Section 2. The verbs tháɴ and làɴ arenever pronounced this way. In other words, phonetic reduction has occurred in theverb particles tháɴ and làɴ. Second, the meanings expressed by the uses of verb
particles tháɴ and làɴ as discussed in the following sections, except for the
directional meanings of their Directional use, have become abstract and are no longer
related to the meanings of the original verb tháɴ and làɴ, denoting actions of moving
up and moving down. Therefore, semantic bleaching has occurred in the verb
particles tháɴ and làɴ. The point is that erosion (phonetic reduction) anddesemanticization (semantic bleaching), both of which are common ingrammaticalization (Heine and Kuteva 2002: 2), are observed in the verb particles
tháɴ and làɴ. Thus, there would be no problem in calling tháɴ and làɴ, as discussed
in this article, verb particles.
Among the EPK motion verbs, thàiɴ ‘return’ is grammaticalized in addition totháɴ and làɴ. For example, as in phí̱ lâɴ thàiɴ (give / return) ‘return, give back’, thàiɴdenotes a backward direction. Motion verbs for ‘go’ and ‘come’ are grammaticalizedin various languages (Heine and Kuteva 2002), but EPK lì̱ ‘go’ and ɣɛ̂ ‘come’ havenot been grammaticalized. However, the younger generation have begun using ɣɛ̂ forthe purpose of expressing graduality as in ɣɛ̂ ʔá tháɴ (come / many / up) ‘It has
gradually increased’. This could be considered a grammaticalization of ɣɛ̂ ‘come’.
Before moving on to the next section, it is necessary to mention the classificationof verbs. As discussed in Kato (2008), all EPK verbs can be divided into two
categories: active verbs, which denote actions or events, and stative verbs, which
denote states. Other important verb classifications in EPK include those based onvolition and transitivity, but the classification of active and stative verbs isparticularly important when describing the functions of tháɴ and làɴ. There areseveral tests to distinguish between active and stative verbs. The simplest tests
include those using adverbs such as ʔèphlɛ́ ‘fast’, xɛ̀xɛ̀ ‘slowly’, or ʔèchóɴ ‘strongly’
and adverbial phrases such as nī nàrì (two / hour) ‘for two hours’. Active verbs can
co-occur with at least one of these adverbial expressions, but stative verbs cannot
co-occur with any of them. For example, the active verb ʔáɴ ‘eat’ can co-occur withʔèphlɛ́ as in ʔáɴ ʔèphlɛ́ (eat / fast) ‘east fast’, but the stative verb ɣì̱ ‘good’ cannot
co-occur with any of them.

146 Atsuhiko KATO

2. A survey of the verb particles tháɴ and làɴ

I made a list of about 280 verbs by consulting Hattori (1957) and inquired two
native EPK speakers (Mr. Saw Khin Maung Aye and Ms. Naw Snow Paw) in Pwo
Karen and Burmese whether the verb particles tháɴ and làɴ could co-occur with eachverb and, if so, what kinds of meanings they expressed and in what situations they
are used. The survey was conducted for approximately two hours each week overthree months, from September to December 2021, with both consultants present
during the survey. As a result of the survey, it was found that both tháɴ and làɴ haveverbs that they can and cannot co-occur with. It was also found that based on themeanings that tháɴ and làɴ express when co-occurring with verbs, the uses of tháɴand làɴ can be categorized into six basic uses: Directional, Inchoative, Intensive,
Restrictive, Integrated, and Special. The Directional can be further divided into
Directional 1, Directional 2, and Directional 3, and the Inchoative can be further
divided into Inchoative 1 and Inchoative 2. Thus, there are a total of nine uses:
Directional 1, Directional 2, Directional 3, Inchoative 1, Inchoative 2, Intensive,
Restrictive, Integrated, and Special. In any of these uses, tháɴ and làɴ do not appear
in the same verb complex. Each use will be explained below. Note that làɴ canrepresent reflexivity in the form “V làɴ θà”, as discussed in detail in Kato (2019a).
The form θà is a middle marker. This use is not treated in this article because it isconsidered to be a kind of idiom in which làɴ has to appear with θà. Also, theexpression in the form of “V tháɴ V làɴ”, such as ʔɔ́ tháɴ ʔɔ́ làɴ (stay / up / stay /down) ‘behave’, is also considered a kind of idiom, and it will not be discussed inthis article.
Directional is the use of indicating an upward or downward direction: tháɴindicates an upward direction and làɴ a downward direction. This use can be further
divided into three categories: Directional 1 is the case in which the direction of
movement of the referent of the subject is indicated; Directional 2 is the case inwhich the direction of the action denoted by the verb is indicated; and Directional 3
is the case in which the direction of movement of the referent of the object isindicated. Examples are shown in (6) through (8). Sentence (6) is an example of
Directional 1 usage, and expresses that the referent of the subject “I” moved to “hishouse”, which is situated at a higher level than the starting point. Sentence (7) is an
example of Directional 2 usage, and expresses that the action of looking was
performed in an upward direction. Sentence (8) is an example of the use of
Directional 3, and expresses that the referent of the object “firewood” was moved
upward.
(6) jә
lì̱tháɴ lә́ʔәɣéiɴ
1SG go up
LOC 3SG house‘I went to his house.’(7) jә
jʊ̄
tháɴ ʔәɣéiɴ
1SG look up
3SG house‘I looked up at his house.’Eastern Pwo Karen Verb Particles Indicating ‘Up’ and ‘Down’ 147(8) ʔәwê chó tháɴ θéiɴmɯ̄
3SG lift up
firewood‘He lifted up the firewood.’
Inchoative is the use of indicating the start of an action or state. This use can befurther divided into two: Inchoative 1 is the case in which starting of an action isindicated; and Inchoative 2 is the case in which starting of a state (change of state)is indicated. Sentence (9) is an example of Inchoative 1 usage. This example
expresses that the action of building started. Sentences (10) and (11) are examplesof the use of Inchoative 2. Example (10) expresses that the state of there being many
humans has started, and (11) expresses that the state of there being few humans has
started.
(9) ʔәwê θә́ɯɴ tháɴ ɣéiɴ
3SG build up
house‘He started to build a house.’(10) phlòʊɴ ʔátháɴ
person many up‘The number of people increased.’(11) phlòʊɴ ɕàlàɴ
person few down
‘The number of people decreased.’
Intensive is a use to indicate that an action is performed vigorously, carefully, or
precisely. Sentences (12) and (13) are examples.
(12) thîkhlóphʊ́ làɴjwà làɴ
river
flow
down
‘The river is flowing vigorously.’(13) jәkɯ́làɴθéiɴphài
1SG peel down bark
‘I peeled the bark vigorously/carefully.’
Restrictive is a use that limits the meaning of a verb to one of two possible ones
when the verb can express two different meanings. Take the verb θò ‘wear’ forexample. See (14):(14) ʔәwêθòchâiɴ
mɔ̄khʊ́
3SG
wear
shirt
a.while.ago‘He put on a shirt a while ago. / He was wearing a shirt a while ago.’
The verb θò can express two meanings: the action of putting on clothes and the actionof keeping clothes on. Thus, (14) can express two meanings: ‘he put on a shirt a148 Atsuhiko KATO

while ago’ and ‘he was wearing a shirt a while ago’. In this case, the use of tháɴ, asin (15), limits the meaning to ‘he put on a shirt a while ago’. In other words, themeaning of the verb is restricted by tháɴ. This is the Restrictive use.
(15) ʔәwê θòtháɴ châiɴ mɔ̄khʊ́
3SG wear up
shirt a.while.ago‘He put on a shirt a while ago. ’Integrated usage is when the verb is not used without tháɴ or làɴ and always
appears with tháɴ or làɴ. See (16) for example:(16) ʔәwê pàʊ tháɴ pàiɴtәrâɴ
3SG open up
window‘He opened a window.’
The verb pàʊ ‘open’ is never used alone, and is always followed by tháɴ. In otherwords, pàʊ tháɴ is united as a single expression. In the Integrated use, since tháɴ andlàɴ are integrated with the verb, they do not have a generalizable meaning or function,
unlike the uses we have seen.
Finally, the Special usage is when “verb + tháɴ” or “verb + làɴ” as a wholeexpresses an idiomatic meaning. See (17) and (18) for example:(17) ʔәwê cáiɴ tháɴ lә́châiɴ khlôʊɴ
3SG walk up
LOC shop outside‘He got out of the store.’(18) ʔәwê cáiɴ làɴlә́
thәʔàɴ
3SG walk down LOC Hpa-an‘He got off (the bus) in Hpa-an.’
The verb cáiɴ means ‘to walk’. However, while cáiɴ tháɴ expresses the meaning‘walk upward’, it also expresses the meaning ‘get out’ as a whole, as in (17).
Similarly, while cáiɴ làɴ means ‘walk downward’, it also means ‘get off’ as a whole,as in (18). These meanings ‘get out’ and ‘get off’ are idiomatic. The particles tháɴand làɴ exhibiting the Special use, similar to the case of Integrated use, have nogeneralizable meaning or function.
The co-occuring verb generally determines the use(s) exhibited by tháɴ and làɴ.
Thus, EPK verbs can be classified based on which of the above nine uses the cooccurring tháɴ or làɴ exhibits. That is, for the following Group (A) through (I): (A)<Directional 1>; (B) <Directional 2>; (C) <Directional 3>; (D) <Inchoative 1>; (E)<Intensive>; (F) <Inchoative 1 & Intensive>; (G) <Inchoative 2>; (H) <Restrictive>;(I) <Integrated>; and (J) <Special>. The brackets “< >” read that tháɴ or làɴ cooccurring with a verb of the group in question exhibits the bracketed use(s). In theverbs of Group (F), two uses, i.e., Inchoative 1 and Intensive, are observed. In
addition, verbs that do not co-occur with either tháɴ or làɴ are labeled Group (K).
Defined in this way, all verbs in EPK belong to one of the 11 groups from Group (A)to (K). The number of verb groups is two more than the nine uses because we haveEastern Pwo Karen Verb Particles Indicating ‘Up’ and ‘Down’ 149

Group (F), where two uses are observed, and Group (K), whose verbs do not cooccur with either tháɴ or làɴ. In some verbs, tháɴ and làɴ may exhibit the Directionaluse as well as another one. In such cases, the Directional use is adopted as the basis
for classification of the verbs because it retains the directional meanings of theoriginal verbs and is considered the most basic.
Table 1 shows the results of the survey. The order of the verbs in each group is
the alphabetical order of the English translation (Note that when the verbs in eachgroup can be subgrouped according to their co-occurrence possibility with tháɴ andlàɴ, they are arranged alphabetically within the subgroup). All verbs are assigned aserial number. The column of “a/s” indicates whether the verb in question is an active
or stative verb: “a” is an active verb, and “s” is a stative verb. The tháɴ and làɴ
columns indicate whether these verb particles can co-occur with each verb. That is,when the verb does not co-occur with tháɴ or làɴ, the symbol ‘-’ is used; and whenthe verb can co-occur with tháɴ or làɴ, the six basic uses exhibited by the cooccurring tháɴ or làɴ are given in abbreviated forms. The abbreviated forms are: Up(= Directional, upward), Down (= Directional, downward), Incho (= Inchoative),
Restr (= Restrictive), Inten (= Intensive), Integ (= Integrated), and Spec (= Special).
Directional use is divided into two categories, upward and downward, for clarity,
thus the number of abbreviations is seven. If more than one use is given in one
column (e.g., “Up, Spec”), it means that the verb particle can be used in either of thespecified ways.
The “verbs” treated in this article include collocations and idioms, which arecomposed of a noun and a verb and have verb-like characteristics as a whole. No. 8
lì ɣɛ̂ is such an example. “(wind / come)” refers to the meaning of the respective
word. That is, in this case, lì means ‘wind’ and ɣɛ̂ means ‘come’, and the entire
expression means ‘wind blows’. In collocations and idioms consisting of a noun anda verb, tháɴ or làɴ is postposed to the verb element. The position where tháɴ or làɴ
appears is represented by ‘[ ]’.
Table 1: Co-occurrence possibilities of tháɴ and làɴ with verbs and the meanings
that tháɴ and làɴ exhibit
Verb
Meaninga/s tháɴlàɴNotes(A) <Directional 1>1ɣɛ̂‘come’
a
Up
Down
2
jɯ̀
‘fly’
a
Up
Down
3
lì̱
‘go’
a
Up
Down
4
phɯ̂
‘jump’
a
Up
Down
5
thàiɴ
‘return’
a
Up
Down
6
klí
‘run’
a
Up
Down
7
cáiɴ
‘walk’aUp,
Down, cáiɴ tháɴ and cáiɴlàɴ of the Special
Spec
Spec
use mean ‘get out’lì ɣɛ̂ [ ] (wind/ come)(B) <Directional 2>
8‘wind blows’

a

Up,
Incho

Down

and ‘get off’,
respectively.
lì ʔɯ́ ‘wind blows’[89] is a synonym.

150 Atsuhiko KATO

9

ʔáɴcà

‘ask’

a

10
11
12
13

bò
kò
phé
dá

‘bend’‘call’‘cut’‘find’

14
15
16

màbò
mè
thә̂ɴ

17

thɛ̀

18
19
20

jʊ̄
dàʊnɛ́
pɔ̄‘help’‘punch’‘kick ~ with
one’s heel’‘kick ~ withthe back of
one’s leg’‘look’‘point at’‘read’

21kòɕà [ ] nò(shout /mouth)
khlàiɴ

‘shout’a‘speak’a‘stab’‘wipe’‘carry ~ on
one’sshoulder’‘draw’‘lift ~ with
one’s hand’‘move (vt)’‘pump’‘push’‘put’‘throw’

22

23
chè
24
thàʊ
(C) <Directional 3>
25
jò
26
27

càʊlé
chó

28
θàʊ
29
θәwài
30
cháɴ
31
ʔɔ́kí̱
32khwái(D) <Inchoative 1>
33
tháɴ
34
35
36
37

ʔáɴlɯ̄ [ ] thî(bathe /water)
ɣɛ̀láʔáɴxwī

a
a
a
a

Up
Incho
Up
Up
Up
Up

Down
Down
Down
Down
Down

a
a
a

Up
Up
Up

Down
Down
Down

a

Up

Down

a
a
a

Up
Up
Up,
Incho
Up,
Incho

Down
Down
Down

Down

a
a

Up,
Incho
Up
Up

Down
Down

a

Up

Down

a
a

Up
Up

Down
Down

a
a
a
a
a

Up
Up
Up
Up
Up

Down
Down
Down
Down
Down

Down

‘ascend,climb’‘bathe’

a

Incho

-

a

Incho

-

‘be in action’‘boil (vi)’‘boil (vt)’

a
a
a

Incho
Incho
Incho

-

dá ‘see, visible’[198] is ahomonym.

Eastern Pwo Karen Verb Particles Indicating ‘Up’ and ‘Down’ 151

38
39

ɣàɣòɴ
θә́ɯɴ

‘break (vi)’‘build’

a
a

Incho
Incho

-

40
41

‘bundle’‘burn’

a
a

Incho
Incho

-

42
43
44
45
46
47

khàthә́ɯɴmí̱ ʔáɴ [ ](fire / eat)bàiɴbòɴpәkòʊɴ
ʔáɴphôɴ
kàʊ
ɣáɴ
blá

a
a
a
a
a
a

Incho
Incho
Incho
Incho
Incho
Incho

-

48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57

thә́ɯɴlī
mà
mîmāɴ
ʔɔ̀
ʔáɴ
ɣòɴ
dɔ́
θànáɴ
màchә̀ɴ
lâɴ wɛ̄dài

a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a

Incho
Incho
Incho
Incho
Incho
Incho
Incho
Incho
Incho
Incho

-

58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65

ʔáɴxɯ̂
θɔ̂
dàʊ
tàiɴ
lókwè
thè
thōɴ
ʔáɴmʊ̀

a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a

Incho
Incho
Incho
Incho
Incho
Incho
Incho
Incho

-

66
67
68
69

chà
ɕòɕó
wàthó
mà [ ] thàkhʊ́(do / song)mînīkәchí̱
ʔáɴɣɯ́
ʔwì

‘coil’‘collect’‘cook’‘cough’‘cry, weep’‘get cured, getrecovered’‘dance’‘do’‘dream’‘drink’‘eat’‘end, finish’‘fold’‘forget’‘help’‘lightning
flashes’‘look for’‘make sound’‘make war’
‘make’‘play’‘pluck’‘pound’‘put ~ in one’s
mouth’‘sew’‘shake’‘shiver’‘sing’

a
a
a
a

Incho
Incho
Incho
Incho

-

a
a
a
a
a

Incho
Incho
Incho
Incho
Incho

-

70
71
72
73
74

‘sleep’‘smile, laugh’‘sneeze’‘steal’‘steam (vi),steam comesout’θә́ɯɴ ‘plant’ [125]is a homonym.

152 Atsuhiko KATO

75

ʔáɴɣôʊɴ

76
77
78
79

màlʊ́
ʔáɴchàʊphʊ̂jā [ ] thî(swim /
water)
lɔ̀chôɴmóɴ

80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88

lâɴ xwèiɴ [ ](thunder /
coo)
cә̀ɴ
ʔɔ́khò
jàɴ [ ] cɯ́(wave / hand)
làɴjí
nә̀ɴ
thɯ̂tәrài89

lì ʔɯ́ [ ](wind / blow(vt))
90
mà [ ] kәlôʊɴ(do / job)(E) <Intensive>
91
khā
92

ʔáɴlɯ̂

93
94
95

làɴthé
làɴjwà
ʔáɴlōɴ

96

ʔáɴlèiɴ97
98
99

ʔáɴláiɴmînàɴlâɴ phlà [ ](thunder /strike)làɴphlī
kɯ́
chә̀ɴ

100
101
102

‘steam (vt),braise’‘study; teach’‘suck’‘swell (vi)’‘swim’

a

Incho

-

a
a
a
a

Incho
Incho
Incho
Incho

-

‘tell’‘think,consider’‘thunder’

a
a

Incho
Incho

-

a

Incho

-

‘tie’
‘wait for’‘wave hand’

a
a
a

Incho
Incho
Incho

-

‘wilt’‘win’‘wind (as ropeor paper)’‘wind blows’

a
a
a

Incho
Incho
Incho

-

a

Incho

-

‘work’

a

Incho

-

‘break (vi)
(as a branch)’‘dry ~ in thesun’‘fall, drop’‘flow’‘lend (asmoney, rice)’‘lend (generalthings)’‘lick’‘lie down’‘lightning
strikes’

a

-

Inten

a

-

Inten

a
a
a

-

Inten
Inten
Inten

a

-

Inten

a
a
a

-

Inten
Inten
Inten

‘melt (vi)’‘peel’‘rain’

a
a
a

-

Inten
Inten
Inten

lì ɣɛ̂ ‘wind blows’[8] is a synonym.

Eastern Pwo Karen Verb Particles Indicating ‘Up’ and ‘Down’ 153

103
kwɛ́phәjā‘release’104
khwá‘scratch’105ʔáɴchâ
‘sell’
106
làɴbә̀ɴ
‘sink (vi)’107chînàɴ
‘sit down’108thʊ́phlì̱‘spit’
109
bàichài
‘squeeze’
110
jāiɴ‘step on’111ʔáɴjɯ̄
‘swallow’112
chíchâ
‘urinate’113ʔáɴɣá‘welcome’(F) <Inchoative 1 & Intensive>
114
ʔáɴká
‘bake’
115ʔáiɴ‘bite, chew’116ʔáɴxʊ́
‘broil’117
ná‘count’118
kàbài‘cover; shut’119ʔí̱ châ‘defecate’120khә́ɯɴ
‘dig’
121
cɔ̂
‘fry’
122
chôɴná
‘listen’123
jɔ̄dèiɴ
‘mix’
124
ʔò
‘peel’
125θә́ɯɴ
‘plant’

a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a

-

Inten
Inten
Inten
Inten
Inten
Inten
Inten
Inten
Inten
Inten
Inten

a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a

Incho
Incho
Incho
Incho
Incho
Incho
Incho
Incho
Incho
Incho
Incho
Incho

Inten
Inten
Inten
Inten
Inten
Inten
Inten
Inten
Inten
Inten
Inten
Inten

126
127
128
129

ʔáɴbɯ́
ʔɔ́pwài
pjòʔáɴchɯ̂jwà

130
klàiɴ
131
kè
(G) <Inchoative 2>
132
châ
133
mә̂ɴ
134
ʔә̀ɴ
135
ʔɔ́
136
137
138
139
140
141
142

kɛ́
xîlà
káiɴ
dʊ́
khá
θә̂ɴ
mé blɔ́ [ ](eye / blind)‘rear, nourish’‘take a rest’‘vomit’‘wash(as clothes)’‘whet’‘write’

a
a
a
a

Incho
Incho
Incho
Incho

Inten
Inten
Inten
Inten

a
a

Incho
Incho

Inten
Inten

‘ache’‘alive’‘bad’‘be, exist’

s
s
s
s

Incho
Incho
Incho
Incho

-

‘be, become’‘beautiful’‘bent’‘big’‘bitter’‘black’‘blind’

s
s
s
s
s
s
s

Incho
Incho
Incho
Incho
Incho
Incho
Incho

-

θә́ɯɴ ‘build’ [39]is a homonym.

cf. ʔɔ́ ‘stay, live’[274]154 Atsuhiko KATO

143
144
145
146
147

165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172

lâ
ɣōɴ
wàɴkhwàɴchêiɴnā ʔә̀ɴ [ ](ear / bad)
jó
ʔwí
cîcá
xâiɴ
làɴlài
ɣɔ̀
khà
jàiɴ
phlɛ́
bóɴ
xɯ̂
tháɴphɔ̂
khlàʊ
xwè
ɣì̱
yî̱
nā xә̂ɴ [ ](ear / heavy)
nòɴ
phímé
ɣә̂ɴ
xә̂ɴ
ɣɛ́
khʊ̄
θàwī
jò

173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184

mә̀ɴ
θà
θí̱ jâ
tәcwī
phàɴ
khɛ̀
thɔ̂
ʔɛ́
ʔá
tháɴɕā
má
θâɴ

148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164

‘blue’‘chilly’‘circular’‘clean’‘deaf’

s
s
s
s
s

Incho
Incho
Incho
Incho
Incho

-

‘deep
‘delicious’‘dirty’‘dry’‘dull, blunt’‘early’‘expensive’‘far’‘fast’‘fat’‘flat’‘float’‘free’‘full, be filed’‘good’‘green’‘hard ofhearing’‘hard’‘hate’‘hear’‘heavy’‘hot, spicy’‘hot’‘hungry’‘inflamed (asliver)’‘intoxicated’‘itchy’‘know’‘late’‘light, bright’‘lit’‘long, high’‘love’‘many’‘married’‘mistaken’
‘new’

s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s

Incho
Incho
Incho
Incho
Incho
Incho
Incho
Incho
Incho
Incho
Incho
Incho
Incho
Incho
Incho
Incho
Incho

-

s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s

Incho
Incho
Incho
Incho
Incho
Incho
Incho
Incho

-

s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s

Incho
Incho
Incho
Incho
Incho
Incho
Incho
Incho
Incho
Incho
Incho
Incho

-

Eastern Pwo Karen Verb Particles Indicating ‘Up’ and ‘Down’ 155

185

θàɕā

186

làɴlì

187
188
189
190
191
192

máiɴ
cɯ̀
ɣɔ̀ (wɔ̀)
náɴ
dʊ́ɕā
bá

193
194
195
196
197

mêiɴ
ʔɯ́
póʊɴlóʊɴ
ɣâɴ
θàmɛ́

198

‘old
(animate)’‘old(inanimate)’‘plump’‘pointed’‘red’‘remember’‘rich’‘right’

s

Incho

-

s

Incho

-

s
s
s
s
s
s

Incho
Incho
Incho
Incho
Incho
Incho

-

s
s
s
s
s

Incho
Incho
Incho
Incho
Incho

-

dá

‘ripe; cooked’‘rotten’‘round’‘salty’‘scared, afraidof’‘see, visible’

s

Incho

-

199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218

chôɴkàiɴ
nә̂ɴ
phlî̱
khàʊ
cháiɴ
nә̂ɴcí
lòɴchóɴkhʊ̄ʔwì
chә̂ɴ
táɴ
kwí
pwài
láʔә̀ɴ
lә̀ɴ
cɔ́
ʔwà
lɛ̄
bàɴ
bá

‘sick’‘smell’‘smooth’‘solid’‘sour’‘stink’‘straight’‘strong’‘sultry’‘sweet’‘thick’‘ticklish’‘tired’‘ugly’‘warm’‘wet’‘white’‘wide’‘yellow’‘cheap’

s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s

Incho
Incho
Incho
Incho
Incho
Incho
Incho
Incho
Incho
Incho
Incho
Incho
Incho
Incho
Incho
Incho
Incho
Incho
Incho
-

-

219
220
221
222
223

khléiɴ
ɕɯ́
khài
ɕà
xwî

‘cold’‘cool’‘dark’‘few’‘light, notheavy’

s
s
s
s
s

-

Incho
Incho
Incho
Incho
Incho

Incho

bá ‘cheap’ [218]and bá ‘hit’ [270]are homonyms.

dá ‘find’ [13] is ahomonym.

bá ‘right’ [192]and bá ‘hit’ [270]are homonyms.

156 Atsuhiko KATO

224
225
226
227
228
229

ʔéiɴ
ɕáɴ
ph�́
pî̱
xwɛ̄
bә̀ɴ

230
231

θàbáɴ
θà xwî [ ](heart / light)
blà

232

233
bàʊ
234
ʔwì
235
pháʊ
(H) <Restrictive>
236
phɯ́
237
238
239
240

béiɴ [ ] mé(close / eye)tháʊchîthә́ɯɴ
kòɴ

241

θò

(I) <Integrated>
242
phà
243
tài
244
pàʊ
245
mɛ́
246
cà
247
kàɴ
248
náʊ
249
blà
250
jwà
251
bә̀ɴ
252
pjá
253

kwɛ́

(J) <Special>254
cáiɴphlò
255
cáiɴɣà
256
lòɴ257
ʔáɴnàɴ

‘narrow’‘poor’‘short, low’‘small’‘thin, skinny’‘thin’ (as abook)‘young’‘glad’

s
s
s
s
s
s

-

Incho
Incho
Incho
Incho
Incho
Incho

s
s

Incho

Incho
Incho

‘lightly
seasoned’‘near’‘slow’‘soft’

s

Incho

Incho

s
s
s

Incho
Incho
Incho

Incho
Incho
Incho

‘carry ~ onone’s back’‘close eyes’

a

Restr

-

a

Restr

-

‘ride’‘stand’‘wear (assarong)’‘wear (asshirt)’

a
a
a

Restr
Restr
Restr

-

a

Restr

-

‘born’‘go out’‘open (vt)’‘sprout’‘start, begin’‘yawn’‘enter’‘hang’‘make ~ flow’‘sink (vt)’‘take off
(as clothes)’‘take off
(as clothes)’

-

Integ
Integ
Integ
Integ
Integ
Integ
-

Integ
Integ
Integ
Integ
Integ

-

-

Integ

‘run away’‘run away’‘follow’‘distribute’

a
a
a
a

Spec
Spec
Spec
-

Spec

Eastern Pwo Karen Verb Particles Indicating ‘Up’ and ‘Down’ 157

258θá(K) <No use>259
ʔɔ́phlɛ́260
báthài
261
phóɴ
262
khwɛ̀
263
bjàɴ
264
cà
265
làɴ
266
θî
267
pjáʊ
268
ɣàphlò
269
phí̱ lâɴ
270
bá
271
272
273

ʔɔ́xáʊ
dákhòɴ
tòɴnóɴ

274
275

cài
ʔɔ́

276
277
278
279

pәtháʊdʊ́mànī̱
náɴ [ ] θà(remember /heart)
θà tháɴ [ ](heart /ascend)θà làɴ [ ](heart /descend)280
281‘breathe’

a

Spec

Spec

‘bear (vt)’‘bump, hit’‘catch’‘crawl’‘cure’‘defeat’‘descend’‘die’‘follow’‘get astray’‘give’
‘hit’

a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a

-

-

‘marry’‘meet’‘run into
someone’‘say’‘stay, live’

a
a
a

-

-

a
a

-

-

‘stop (vi, vt)’
‘strike’‘take’‘wake up’

a
a
a
a

-

-

‘angry’

s

-

-

‘sad’

s

-

-

bá ‘right’ [192]and bá ‘cheap’[218] arehomonyms.

cf. ʔɔ́ ‘be, exist’[135]

In following Section 3, findings of the survey will be discussed for each of thegroups (A) through (K).

3. Discussion

As shown in the previous section, the uses of the verb particles tháɴ and làɴ canbe classified into six categories based on the meanings they exhibit: Directional,
Inchoative, Intensive, Restrictive, Integrated, and Special. Of these, the Directionaluse of the verb particles can be further divided into Directional 1, Directional 2, andDirectional 3, and the Inchoative use into Inchoative 1 and Inchoative 2, resulting ina total of nine uses. Furthermore, all EPK verbs can be classified into the following

158 Atsuhiko KATO

11 groups based on which of these nine categories the co-occurring tháɴ or làɴ
exhibits: (A) <Directional 1>; (B) <Directional 2>; (C) <Directional 3>; (D)<Inchoative 1>; (E) <Intensive>; (F) <Inchoative 1 & Intensive>; (G) <Inchoative2>; (H) <Restrictive>; (I) <Integrated>; (J) <Special>; and (K) <No use>. The
following subsections discuss the characteristics of the verbs in each group and themeanings of the uses exhibited by tháɴ and làɴ in each group. The numbers
bracketed by “[ ]” represent the verb numbers in Table 1.
3.1 (A) <Directional 1>
All the verbs in this group ([1]‒[8]) denote the movement of the referent of thesubject. Any of these verbs can co-occur with both tháɴ and làɴ. When co-occurringwith these verbs, tháɴ indicates that the direction of movement of the referent of thesubject is above the horizontal axis, while làɴ indicates that it is below the horizontal
axis. Sentence (19) is an example with the verb lì̱ ‘go’ [3], which belongs to group(A). The verb particle tháɴ in this sentence indicates that the subject “I” went to ahigher position than the starting point, e.g., went to “his house” on the mountainfrom the foot. The sentence obtained by replacing tháɴ in (19) with làɴ is (20). Thissentence, for example, expresses that “I” went from the top of the mountain to “hishouse” at the foot.
(19) jәlì̱tháɴ lә́
ʔә
ɣéiɴ
=(6)
1SG go up
LOC 3SG house‘I went to his house.’(20) jә
lì̱
làɴ
lә́
ʔә
ɣéiɴ
1SG go down LOC 3SG house‘I went to his house.’
As discussed in Section 2, and shown in (17) and (18), cáiɴ ‘walk’ [7] is also
used with tháɴ and làɴ exhibiting the Special use. cáiɴ tháɴ means ‘get out’ as wellas ‘walk upward’, and cáiɴ làɴ means ‘get off (a vehicle)’ as well as ‘walk
downward’. This is why “Spec” is noted in the tháɴ and làɴ columns. Kato (2004:294) considered the tháɴ in cáiɴ tháɴ ‘get out’ to denote an outward movement, but
the examples shown in Kato (ibid.) which appear to denote an outward movement
are in fact either of the Special use, such as cáiɴ tháɴ, or of the Integrated use, suchas tài tháɴ ‘go out’ [243].
lì ɣɛ̂ (wind / come) [8] is an idiom, meaning ‘wind blows’. The reason that “Incho”
is noted in the tháɴ column is that lì ɣɛ̂ tháɴ (wind / come / up) means not only ‘windblows upward’, but also ‘wind begins to blow’. lì ɣɛ̂ (wind / come) ‘wind blows’ [8]has a synonymous idiom lì ʔɯ́ (wind / blow (vt)) [89], but the latter is not applied as
per the Directional usage.
3.2 (B) <Directional 2>
All the verbs in this group ([9]‒[24]) can co-occur with both tháɴ and làɴ. tháɴand làɴ indicate that the direction of the action denoted by the verb is above or below
the horizontal axis, respectively. All the verbs in this group are active verbs. It isEastern Pwo Karen Verb Particles Indicating ‘Up’ and ‘Down’ 159

difficult to generalize the semantic features common to these verbs. Since it is alsodifficult to generalize what the “direction of action” is, it would be best to illustrate
it with examples.
Example (21) is a sentence with the verb mè ‘punch’ [15]. In this example, tháɴindicates that the fist moved above the horizontal axis during the punching action.
Using làɴ instead of tháɴ as in (22) indicates that the fist moved below the horizontal.
(21) jәmètháɴ ʔәwê
1SG punch up
3SG‘I punched him.’(22) jәmèlàɴʔәwê
1SG punch down 3SG‘I punched him.’
Similarly, when tháɴ or làɴ co-occurs with bò ‘bend’ [10], phé ‘cut’ [12], dàʊnɛ́‘point at’ [19], chè ‘stab’ [23], and thàʊ ‘wipe’ [24], the direction of the hand
movement is expressed. In the case of thә̂ɴ ‘kick ~ with one’s heel’ [16] and thɛ̀ ‘kick~ with the back of one’s leg’ [17], the direction of the movement of the foot isexpressed. Since bò ‘bend’ [10] describes the action of bending a wire or the like, apart of the referent of the object is also bent according to the direction of bending. In
this respect, this verb is similar to the verbs in Group (C), where the movement of
the referent of the object is denoted, but in Group (C) the movement of the entirereferent of the object is denoted, and that is different from the meaning of bò, whichchanges only a part of the referent of the object. Therefore, this verb is included inGroup (B), not Group (C).
Example (23) with the verb jʊ̄ ‘look’ [18] and tháɴ expresses that the gaze was
directed above the horizontal axis when the action of looking was performed. For
example, if “his house” is on a mountain and one sees it from the foot of the mountain,
this sentence is used. Conversely, làɴ is used instead of tháɴ when looking at a houseat the foot of a mountain from the top of it.
(23) jәjʊ̄tháɴ ʔәɣéiɴ=(7)
1SG look up
3SG house‘I looked up at his house.’
Similarly, for the verb dá ‘find’ [13], the direction of gaze is indicated by tháɴ andlàɴ.
In the situation expressed by example (24) with the verb kò ‘call’ [11] and tháɴ,“he” is at a higher position than the actor. If “he” is at a lower position than the actor,làɴ is used.
(24) jәkò tháɴ ʔәwê
1SG call up
3SG‘I called him.’

160 Atsuhiko KATO

In this example, it can be considered that the voice is seen as a kind of line connecting
the actor and the listener, and its direction is indicated. The same is true for ʔáɴcà‘ask’ [9] and khlàiɴ ‘speak’ [22]. The same is also true for pɔ̄ ‘read’ [20], although
the situation is a bit more unique. The expression pɔ̄ tháɴ láiʔàʊ (read / up / book)‘read a book’ expresses a situation in which a book is read aloud. If the listener ofthe voice is at a higher position than the actor, tháɴ is used, and if the listener is at alower position, làɴ is used.
Example (25) with the verb màbò ‘help’ [14] and tháɴ is used when “he” lives
in a higher position than the actor. For example, Mae Sot, a town on the Thai side,
is higher than Hpa-an, the capital of Karen State. If the actor “I” lives in Hpa-an and“he” lives in Mae Sot, (25) with tháɴ is used. Conversely, if the actor lives in Mae
Sot and “he” lives in Hpa-an, then làɴ is used.
(25) jәmàbò tháɴ ʔәwê
1SG help up
3SG‘I cooperated with him.’Thus, in this group, the direction of action is, in some sense, indicated by tháɴ orlàɴ.
Note that for the verb ʔáɴcà ‘ask’ [9], pɔ̄ ‘read’ [20], kòɕà nò ‘shout’ [21], andkhlàiɴ ‘speak’ [22], tháɴ may express an inchoative meaning when co-occurringwith them. Therefore, they are given the note “Up, Incho” in the tháɴ column.
Another unique use found in the uses of Directional 1 and Directional 2 should
also be noted. The place of a respected person such as a Buddhist monk or king isseen as a high place, and tháɴ is sometimes used to describe movement to theresidence of a Buddhist monk or king, or an action toward them. For example, lì̱ tháɴ(go / up) expresses going to the residence of a Buddhist monk or king; and khlàiɴtháɴ (speak / up) expresses speaking to a Buddhist monk or king.
3.3 (C) <Directional 3>
All the verbs in this group ([25]‒[32]) can co-occur with both tháɴ and làɴ. They
are all active verbs, which represent a causative action resulting in a movement of
the referent of the object. If the direction of movement of the referent of the object
is above the horizontal axis, tháɴ is used; if below, làɴ is used.
See example (26) with the verb chó ‘lift ~ with one’s hand’ [27] and tháɴ. Thissentence expresses the upward movement of the referent of the object, “firewood”.
This sentence is used, for example, in a situation where firewood is moved up fromthe ground to a shelf. Conversely, in a situation where firewood is moved down fromthe shelf to the ground, làɴ is used instead of tháɴ, as seen in (27).
(26) ʔәwê chó tháɴ θéiɴmɯ̄=(8)
3SG lift up
firewood‘He lifted up the firewood.’Eastern Pwo Karen Verb Particles Indicating ‘Up’ and ‘Down’ 161(27) ʔәwê chó làɴθéiɴmɯ̄
3SG lift down firewood‘He lifted down the firewood.’
The verb chó describes the action of carrying something by hand, while jò ‘carry ~on one’s shoulder’ [25] describes carrying something on the shoulder. In situations
in which firewood is moved onto a shelf or taken down from a shelf by carrying iton the shoulder, jò is used instead of chó.
Let us look at another verb. (28) and (29) are examples using khwái ‘throw’ [32].
(28) ʔәwê khwái tháɴ lōʊɴ
3SG throw up
stone‘He threw up a stone.’(29) ʔәwê khwái làɴlōʊɴ
3SG throw down stone‘He threw down a stone.’If the stone flies above the horizontal axis, (28) is used; if it flies below, (29) is used.
Thus, in this group, the direction in which the referent of the object moves isindicated by tháɴ or làɴ.
3.4 (D) <Inchoative 1>
In the verbs of this group ([33]‒[90]), starting of an action is expressed by tháɴ.
All the verbs in this group are active verbs; however, it is difficult to find more
specific semantic commonalities among the verbs belonging here.
Note that làɴ has a use for indicating the starting of a state, as will be discussed
in 3.7, but cannot be used to indicate the starting of an action.
In the use of Inchoative 1, tháɴ has meanings such as ‘start to V’, ‘have come toV’, or ‘be now V-ing’. See example (30) with the verb θә́ɯɴ ‘build’ [39].
(30) ʔәwê θә́ɯɴ tháɴ ɣéiɴ=(9)
3SG build up
house‘He started building a house.’
This use of tháɴ can be paraphrased by using the verb cà ‘start, begin’ [246]. cà
belongs to Group (I), as discussed in 3.9, and always appears with tháɴ. This cà tháɴcan be followed by a verb to express the meaning of ‘start to V’. The following verb
functions as the object of cà tháɴ. Thus, (30) can be paraphrased as (31) below.
(31) ʔәwê càtháɴ θә́ɯɴ ɣéiɴ
3SG start up
build house‘He started building a house.’
Examples (30) and (31) can represent the same situation. However, when tháɴ isused, as in (30), there tends to be an implicature that the action was not performed at162 Atsuhiko KATO

all in the preceding phase. Thus, (30) can mean ‘He finally started to build a house’or ‘He is, after all, building a house now’. Moreover, emphasis is sometimes placedon this implicature rather than on inchoativity, with connotations such as ‘only thistime’ or ‘take this opportunity to V’. If (30) is used with such a connotation, it could
be translated as ‘Only this time he built a house’ or ‘He decided to take thisopportunity to build a house’.
For active verbs that do not co-occur with tháɴ in Inchoative 1 usage, i.e., active
verbs that do not belong to either Groups (D) or (F), tháɴ cannot be used to express
the inchoative aspect. In the case of such a verb, the only way to express the
inchoative aspect is to use cà tháɴ. For example, when using ʔáɴláiɴ ‘lick’ [97],belonging to Group (E), to mean ‘start to lick’, one needs to say cà tháɴ ʔáɴláiɴ
instead of using the unacceptable combination *ʔáɴláiɴ tháɴ. However, in the caseof verbs belonging to Groups (A) and (B), tháɴ may express the inchoative aspect
for some verbs, in addition to a directional meaning. For example, khlàiɴ ‘speak’[21] with tháɴ postposed can mean ‘to start to speak’ as well as ‘to speak upwards’;
thus, the note “Incho” is placed in the tháɴ column.
As will be discussed in 3.7, stative verbs cannot co-occur with cà tháɴ, but any
stative verb can co-occur with tháɴ or làɴ to express an inchoative meaning, so no
problems arise from their inability to co-occur with cà tháɴ.
In some languages, the verb denoting upward movement has become an element
indicating completion. For example, the Japanese words agaru ‘ascend’ and ageru‘raise’ can express completion when they appear as the second element of acompound verb (see, e.g., Tsujimura 2014: 205–213), e.g., kaki-agaru (writeascend) ‘finish being written’ and kaki-ageru (write-raise) ‘finish writing’. However,completion is never expressed by the EPK verb particle tháɴ. Thus, θә́ɯɴ tháɴ ɣéiɴin (30) cannot be used to mean ‘finish building a house’. If one wants to express themeaning of ‘finish building a house’, it is necessary to use the intransitive verb ɣòɴ‘end, finish, be over’ [53], as in the following example.
(32) ʔәwê θә́ɯɴ ɣéiɴɣòɴjàʊ
3SG build house finish PFV‘He finished building a house.’
The part of ʔәwê θә́ɯɴ ɣéiɴ in this sentence is a clause embedded as the subject ofɣòɴ. Note that jàʊ in (32) is a particle indicating perfective, but using jàʊ with theverb particle tháɴ in the same clause cannot express completion. For example, thesentence ʔәwê θә́ɯɴ tháɴ ɣéiɴ jàʊ (3SG / build / up / house / PFV) means ‘He has
started building a house’. Kato (2004: 296) gives several examples of the use of tháɴfor completion, but these examples should be regarded as the uses of Inchoative 1,
Inchoative 2 or Integrated.
There is one thing worth mentioning about this group, which is the fact that theverb tháɴ ‘ascend, climb’ [33], the origin of the verb particle tháɴ, can co-occur withthe verb particle tháɴ, as shown in example (33).

Eastern Pwo Karen Verb Particles Indicating ‘Up’ and ‘Down’ 163(33) ʔәwê tháɴtháɴ θéiɴ jàʊ
3SG climb up
tree PFV‘He has started climbing a tree.’
The verb tháɴ, however, cannot co-occur with the verb particle làɴ. Additionally,
the verb làɴ ‘descend’ [265], the origin of the verb particle làɴ, cannot co-occur witheither of the verb particles tháɴ or làɴ.
3.5 (E) <Intensive>
For the verbs in this group ([91]‒[113]), the emphasis of the action is indicatedby làɴ; tháɴ does not have this use. All the verbs in this group are active verbs;
however, it is difficult to find more specific semantic commonalities among the verbs
in this group. It is certain that many of the verbs in this group are semantically related
to a downward direction in some way. For example, in the situations represented bylàɴthé ‘fall, drop’ [93], làɴjwà ‘flow’ [94], and làɴbә̀ɴ ‘sink’ [106], the referents ofthe subjects move downward; In the situations represented by mînàɴ ‘lie down’ [98],chînàɴ ‘sit down’ [107], and jāiɴ ‘step on’ [110], the actions are downward
movements; In the situations represented by thʊ́phlì̱ ‘spit’ [108] and ʔáɴjɯ̄ ‘swallow’[111], the referents of the objects move downward. However, this group also
includes verbs that are not necessarily related to a downward direction, such asʔáɴlōɴ ‘lend (as money, rice)’ [95], ʔáɴlèiɴ ‘lend (general things)’ [96], kwɛ́phәjā‘release’ [103], ʔáɴchâ ‘sell’ [105], and ʔáɴɣá ‘welcome’ [113]. Thus, it is difficult
to find characteristics common to all the verbs in this group.
The Intensive use of làɴ indicates that the action is performed in a more
intensified manner than usual. The detailed meanings that can be expressed by thisuse of làɴ vary depending on the context in which the sentence is used. For example,
events or actions are expressed as being performed vigorously, carefully, precisely,
decisively, and so on. Below are example sentences with khā ‘break (as a branch)’[91], làɴjwà ‘flow’ [94], ʔáɴláiɴ ‘lick’ [97], kɯ́ ‘peel’ [101], ʔáɴchâ ‘sell’ [105],chînàɴ ‘sit down’ [107], and ʔáɴɣá ‘welcome’ [113].
(34) θéiɴthә́ɯɴ ʔәthàiɴ khā
làɴ
jàʊ
tree
branch break down PFV‘A tree branch just broke vigorously.’(35) thîkhlóphʊ́ làɴjwà làɴ
=(12)
river
flow
down
‘The river is flowing vigorously.’(36) ʔәwê ʔáɴláiɴ làɴthwê
3SG lickdown dish‘He licked the plate vigorously.’164 Atsuhiko KATO

(37) jәkɯ́làɴθéiɴphài =(13)1SG peel down bark
‘I peeled the bark vigorously/carefully.’(38) ʔәwê ʔáɴchâ làɴɣéiɴ
3SG selldown house‘He decisively sold his house.’(39) ʔәwê chînàɴlàɴ
3SG sit.down down
‘He sat down firmly.’(40) ʔәwê ʔáɴɣálàɴhә̀
3SG welcome down 1PL‘He welcomed us warmly.’
3.6 (F) <Inchoative 1 & Intensive>
The verbs in this group ([114]‒[131]) share features with Group (D) in thatstarting of an action is indicated by tháɴ, and with Group (E) in that emphasis of anaction is indicated by làɴ. These verbs have characteristics of both Group (D) and(E), thus setting up a separate group. All the verbs in this group are active verbs;
however, it is difficult to find more specific semantic commonalities among the verbs
in this group.
Since the verbs in this group can co-occur with both tháɴ as used in Inchoative
1 and làɴ from its Intensive use, we can clearly observe the difference between these
two uses in the verbs of this group. Let us take, for example, ná ‘count’ [117] andcompare ná tháɴ in (41) with ná làɴ in (42).
(41) ʔәwê ná
tháɴ pɛ́châɴ
3SG count up
money‘He started counting the money.’(42) ʔәwê nálàɴpɛ́châɴ
3SG count down money‘He counted the money precisely.’
Example (41) expresses that the action of counting money was started. On the other
hand, (42) expresses that the action of counting money was done with care. The
difference in the meaning expressed by these two sentences will help us understandthe difference of the uses of Inchoative 1 and Intensive. This difference can also beseen in the difference in co-occurability with ɣòɴ (see (32)), which expresses themeaning of ‘finish V-ing’. ná tháɴ cannot co-occur with ɣòɴ as in (43), but ná làɴ
can as in (44). It can be assumed that (43) is not acceptable because the inchoative
meaning of ná tháɴ is inconsistent with the meaning of completion in ɣòɴ.

Eastern Pwo Karen Verb Particles Indicating ‘Up’ and ‘Down’ 165(43) *ʔәwê ná
tháɴ pɛ́châɴ ɣòɴjàʊ
3SG count up
money finish PFV‘untranslatable’(44) ʔәwê nálàɴpɛ́châɴ ɣòɴjàʊ
3SG count down money finish PFV‘He finished counting the money precisely.’
3.7 (G) <Inchoative 2>
In the verbs of this group ([132]‒[235]), the starting of a state is indicated bytháɴ or làɴ. All the verbs in this group are stative verbs. In (45), the starting of a statewith many humans is indicated by tháɴ, while in (46), the starting of a state with afew humans is indicated by làɴ. That is, the meaning of ‘become V’ is expressed byplacing tháɴ or làɴ after the verb.
(45) phlòʊɴ ʔá
tháɴ
=(10)
person many up‘The number of people increased.’ (Lit: People became many.)(46) phlòʊɴ ɕà
làɴ
=(11)
personfew
down‘The number of people decreased.’ (Lit: People became few.)
When tháɴ or làɴ is postposed to a stative verb, the entire verb complex takes on thecharacteristics of an active verb. For example, ʔá ‘many’ [181] in (45) is a stative
verb, and cannot co-occur with adverbs such as ʔèphlɛ́ ‘fast’, xɛ̀xɛ̀ ‘slowly’, andʔèchóɴ ‘strongly’, or adverbial phrases such as nī nàrì (two / hour) ‘for two hours’:
thus, *ʔá ʔèphlɛ́ (many / fast) is unacceptable. However, the verb complex ʔá tháɴ
has the characteristics of an active verb as a whole, so it can co-occur with suchadverbs, as seen in ʔá tháɴ ʔèphlɛ́ (many / up / fast) ‘increase fast’. It is only in thecase of Inchoative 2 that such an active-stative-shifting phenomenon is observed. In
the other uses of tháɴ and làɴ, verbs are active verbs (except for Group I, where thespecification of a/s is unknown), and the verb complexes obtained by postposingtháɴ or làɴ to them also have the characteristics of active verbs.
The reason I subgroup the Inchoative use into Inchoative 1 and Inchoative 2 isthat there is a subtle difference in meaning that can be observed between the two.
The use of Inchoative 2 involves the implicature that the state expressed by the verb
existed before, but with a lower degree, i.e., that the state of “less V” existed before.
For example, (45) implies that there was a state of “less many” before and (46)implies that there was a state of “less few” before. However, no such implicature
occurs in when using Inchoative 1. Rather, as noted in example (30), in the use of
Inchoative 1, there tends to be an implicature that the action was not performed at allin the preceding phase. Further, there is another reason to distinguish between theuses of Inchoative 1 and Inchoative 2. The paraphrase by the verb cà ‘start, begin’[246] shown in (31) is not possible in Inchoative 2, that is, cà tháɴ cannot co-occur
with a stative verb. Therefore, (47) below is ungrammatical.

166 Atsuhiko KATO

(47) *phlòʊɴ càtháɴ ʔá
person start up
many
Intended meaning: ‘The number of people increased.’
Given these differences, the use of Inchoative 2 might be viewed as independent of
the use of Inchoative 1 and should be labeled, for example, as the use of “change ofstate”. Or possibly Inchoative 1 should be labeled “Ingressive”, and Inchoative 2
should be labeled simply “Inchoative” without number, because the linguistic term“inchoative” tends to be used for the starting of a state (Dahl 2009). However, in thisarticle, I tentatively regard Inchoative 1 and Inchoative 2 as subgroups of the same
Inchoative use, because I suspect that the differences between these two uses shown
above could be attributed to difference in meaning between active and stative verbs.
In the research available to date, any stative verb can co-occur with tháɴ or làɴ
in the use of Inchoative 2, with the exception of the two stative verbs discussed in
3.11. Within the verbs listed in Table 1, 86 stative verbs can only co-occur with tháɴ,
13 with làɴ, and 5 with both tháɴ and làɴ. There are far more verbs that can only cooccur with tháɴ than with làɴ. This suggests that tháɴ may be more unmarked thanlàɴ in Inchoative 2 usage. However, only the possibility is mentioned here as thisrequires deeper study.
Interestingly, there is at least one antonym for a stative verb that co-occurs onlywith làɴ, and the antonym co-occurs only with tháɴ. Table 2 shows pairs of suchantonyms. The left column shows the 13 verbs that co-occur only with làɴ, and theright column shows their antonyms. Note that xwɛ̄ ‘thin, skinny’ [228] has two
antonyms.
Table 2: Stative verbs that co-occur only with làɴ and their antonymslàɴtháɴbá ‘cheap’ [218]khà ‘expensive’ [154]khléiɴ ‘cold’ [219]khʊ̄ ‘hot’ [170]ɕɯ́ ‘cool’ [220]lә̀ɴ ‘warm’ [213]khài ‘dark’ [221]phàɴ ‘light, bright’ [177]ɕà ‘few’ [222]ʔá ‘many’ [181]xwî ‘light’ [223]xә̂ɴ ‘heavy’ [168]ʔéiɴ ‘narrow’ [224]lɛ̄ ‘wide’ [216]ɕáɴ ‘poor’ [225]dʊ́ɕā ‘rich’ [191]ph�́ ‘short, low’ [226]thɔ̂ ‘long, high’ [179]pî̱ ‘small’ [227]dʊ́ ‘big’ [140]xwɛ̄ ‘thin, skinny’ [228]bóɴ ‘fat’ [157], máiɴ ‘plump’ [187]bә̀ɴ ‘thin’ [229]táɴ ‘thick’ [209]θàbáɴ ‘young’ [230]θàɕā ‘old (animate)’ [185]As exemplified by the fact that ɕà ‘few’ [222] co-occurs with làɴ and ʔá ‘many’[181] co-occurs with tháɴ, in the pairs shown in Table 2, verbs semanticallyassociated with small quantities appear to co-occur with làɴ to indicate a decrease,
while verbs associated with large quantities appear to co-occur with tháɴ to indicate
an increase. However, it is difficult to discuss the relationship between any given

Eastern Pwo Karen Verb Particles Indicating ‘Up’ and ‘Down’ 167

concept and quantity. This is evident in the fact that although θàbáɴ ‘young’ [230]and θàɕā ‘old (animate)’ [185] co-occur respectively with làɴ and tháɴ, both θâɴ‘new’ [184] and làɴlì ‘old’ (inanimate) [186] co-occur with tháɴ. The verbs θàbáɴ‘young’ [230] and θâɴ ‘new’ [184] have a semantic property in common in that they
represent a small amount of time since some entity began to exist in the world.
However, the former co-occurs with làɴ and the latter with tháɴ. From this it can besaid that it is difficult to predict whether tháɴ or làɴ can co-occur with any given
stative verb.
In addition, Kato (2013) notes that in the usage of inchoativity in the Western
Pwo Karen verb particles, verbs expressing a positive meaning tend to co-occur withthe verb particle thàɴ ‘up’ (corresponding to tháɴ in EPK), while verbs expressing anegative meaning tend to co-occur with the verb particle láɴ ‘down’ (correspondingto làɴ in EPK). The same is pointed out in the neighboring language, Thai, by
Iwasaki and Ingkaphirom (2005: 169). As evidence, Kato (2013) points to the factthat kàiɗò ‘rich’, ɣé ‘good’, xîlà ‘beautiful’, shèiɴ ‘clean’, and ʔwì ‘delicious’ cooccur with thàɴ ‘up’ and meʔ ɓlàu ‘blind’, nә́ʔù ‘smell bad’, and ɓàθaʔlò ‘dirty’ cooccur with láɴ ‘down’. He then considers ʔә́ ‘bad’, the antonym of ɣé ‘good’, which
co-occurs with thàɴ, to be an exception. This phenomenon reminds us of themetaphor “GOOD IS UP; BAD IS DOWN” pointed out by Lakoff and Johnson(1980: 16). In EPK, however, the semantic counterparts of these Western Pwo Karenwords, dʊ́ɕā ‘rich’ [191], ɣì̱ ‘good’ [162], xîlà ‘beautiful’ [137], chêiɴ ‘clean’ [146],
ʔwí ‘delicious’ [149], mé blɔ́ ‘blind’ [142], nә̂ɴcí ‘stink’ [204], cîcá ‘dirty’ [150], ʔә̀ɴ‘bad’ [134] all co-occur with tháɴ. Therefore, it is unlikely that EPK has such asemantic association. There may also be room for reconsideration regarding thesemantic association in Western Pwo Karen, given that ʔә́ ‘bad’ co-occurs with thàɴ‘up’. Differences between EPK and Western Pwo Karen are also discussed in Section
4.
It has thus far been found that 99 of the 104 stative verbs can only co-occur witheither tháɴ or làɴ. The remaining five [231–235] can co-occur with both tháɴ andlàɴ. In the case of blà ‘lightly seasoned’ [232], there is no semantic difference
between using tháɴ and làɴ. For the other verbs, there are semantic differences
between using tháɴ and làɴ. θà xwî (heart / light) ‘glad’ [231] usually co-occurs withtháɴ, but when làɴ is used, it takes on the nuance of ‘feel relieved’. For bàʊ ‘near’[233], tháɴ indicates that a place is getting closer and làɴ indicates that a person isapproaching; see, for example, thәʔàɴ bàʊ tháɴ (Hpa-an / near / up) ‘Hpa-an isgetting closer’ and ʔәwê bàʊ làɴ (3SG / near / down) ‘He came closer’. In the caseof ʔwì ‘slow’ [234], tháɴ indicates that a vehicle, such as an automobile, slows down,
while làɴ indicates that actions such as talking, walking, and running become slower.
For pháʊ ‘soft’ [235], tháɴ denotes a situation in which food becomes soft due tocooking, and làɴ denotes a situation in which a tire or something becomes soft due
to the air being released.
Note that bá ‘right’ [192] and bá ‘cheap’ [218] are both verbs derived from bá‘hit’ [270]. In this article, these three are considered homonyms. bá ‘right’ co-occurs
with tháɴ, bá ‘cheap’ with làɴ, and bá ‘hit’ does not co-occur with either. That is,the co-occurability of the three verbs with tháɴ and làɴ, which have the same origin,
is different. This makes it clear that the co-occurability of these three verbs with tháɴand làɴ is not determined by their etymology.

168 Atsuhiko KATO

3.8 (H) <Restrictive>
All the verbs in this group ([236]‒[241]) are active verbs that have two meanings.
One meaning is some physical action, and the other is maintaining the result brought
about by that physical action. For example, the verb θò ‘wear’ [241] can denote two
actions. One is an action that involves the movement of an entity, i.e., putting on
clothes. The other is the action of keeping the moved entity in its position, i.e.,
keeping it on the body. Thus, (48) can express two meanings: (a) ‘He put on a shirta while ago’ and (b) ‘He was wearing a shirt a while ago’.
(48) ʔәwê θòchâiɴ mɔ̄khʊ́
=(14)
3SG
wear shirt
a.while.ago‘He put on a shirt a while ago. / He was wearing a shirt a while ago.’
In such a case, tháɴ can be used to limit the meaning to the first physical action. Thisis the Restrictive use. This use is not found in làɴ. In example (48), using tháɴ, as in(49), can fix the meaning to (a) ‘He put on a shirt a while ago’.
(49) ʔәwê θòtháɴ châiɴ mɔ̄khʊ́
=(15)
3SG wear up
shirt a.while.ago‘He put on a shirt a while ago.’
Conversely, to fix the meaning to (b), the verb particle thá (may be pronounced dá)is used to express the retention of the result, as in (50).
(50) ʔәwê θò
tháchâiɴ mɔ̄khʊ́
3SG wear THA shirt a.while.ago‘He was wearing a shirt a while ago.’
In this survey, six verbs that can be used with tháɴ falling under Restrictive usewere found. Let us look at the other verbs. phɯ́ ‘carry ~ on one’s back’ [236] candenote two actions: taking up of a load on the back and keeping of that load on theback. With tháɴ, the meaning can be limited to the action of taking up a load on
one’s back. béiɴ mé ‘close eyes’ [237] can denote two actions: closing the eyes andkeeping the eyes closed. With tháɴ, the meaning can be limited to the action ofclosing the eyes. tháʊ ‘ride’ [238] can denote two meanings: the action of getting on
a vehicle and keeping of being on a vehicle. With tháɴ, the meaning can be limited
to the action of getting on. chîthә́ɯɴ ‘stand’ [239] can denote two actions: standing
up and maintaining the standing position. With tháɴ, the meaning can be limited tothe action of standing. The difference between the last verb kòɴ ‘wear’ [240] and θò‘wear’ [241] in (48)‒(50) is that θò denotes an action of wearing something on theupper body, whereas kòɴ denotes an action of wearing something on the lower body.
Just like θò, kòɴ can also denote two actions: the action of putting on clothes, andthat of keeping it on the body. With tháɴ, the meaning can be limited to the actionof putting it on.

Eastern Pwo Karen Verb Particles Indicating ‘Up’ and ‘Down’ 169

3.9 (I) <Integrated>
The verbs in this group ([242]‒[253]) are special in that they always appear withtháɴ or làɴ. In that sense, the verb and verb particle are integrated. Verbs in the otheruses can appear on their own without tháɴ and làɴ; however, the verbs in Group (I)do not appear on their own. Thus, the meaning attached to each verb in the table isthe one expressed by “verb + tháɴ/làɴ” as a whole. Moreover, for the same reason,
it is not possible to determine whether they are inherently active or stative verbs.
This is why, for these verbs, the mark ‘-’ is shown in the a/s column in Table 1. The
verb complex “verb + tháɴ/làɴ” as a whole has the characteristics of an active verb,
which is true for all the verbs in EPK. The particles tháɴ and làɴ in the Integrated
use do not have a generalizable meaning or function.
Take phà ‘born’ [242] as an example of a verb that always appears with tháɴ.
This verb always appears in the form phà tháɴ, with tháɴ following the verb. An
example is given in (51).
(51) nәphʊ́
phà tháɴ jàʊʁâ
PFV Q
2SG child born up‘Has your child been born yet?’
The following (52) is an example of náʊ ‘enter’ [248], which always appears
with làɴ. Since náʊ always appears with làɴ, (52) can be used whether the movement
toward the village is upward or downward. There is no combination of náʊ tháɴ.
(52) ʔәwê náʊ làɴlә́tәwâɴ phә̀ɴ
3SG enter down LOC village inside‘He entered the village.’
Note that Kato (2004: 299) considered làɴ to have a use for inward movement, andregarded its co-occurrence with náʊ as an example of this use. However, làɴ cooccurring with náʊ should be considered an example of Integrated use. Several otherexamples that Kato (ibid.) considered to indicate inward movement can also beinterpreted as Directional or Intensive use.
All the verbs listed [242] to [247] in Table 1 always appear with tháɴ, and all theverbs listed in [248] to [253] always appear with làɴ. Thus, these verbs could
constitute a single compound verb in the form of “verb + tháɴ/làɴ”. However, theseverbs may appear without tháɴ or làɴ in compound words. The compound nounmɯ̄náʊ ‘west’ consisting of mɯ̄ ‘sun’ and náʊ ‘enter’ is such an example. Thus, wecannot easily conclude that “verb + tháɴ/làɴ” as a whole constitutes a single verb.
3.10 (J) <Special>
The verbs in this group ([254]‒[258]) show an idiomatic meaning when cooccurring with tháɴ or làɴ. In the Special use, the meaning of the verb complex “verb+ tháɴ/làɴ” as a whole cannot be predicted from the meaning of the verb and tháɴ/làɴ.
In this respect, these verbs are special. The verb cáiɴ ‘walk’ [7], given as an exampleof the Special use in (17) and (18), is regarded as belonging to Group (A) because
co-occurring tháɴ and làɴ basically exhibit the use of Directional 1. In this survey,

170 Atsuhiko KATO

no verbs were found where co-occurring tháɴ or làɴ can exhibit both Special andanother use, with the exception of cáiɴ.
Let us look at the verbs belonging to this group one by one. cáiɴphlò ‘run away’[254] denotes that a person who must be in a certain place runs away from there. It
is used, for example, when a prisoner escapes from prison. This verb followed bytháɴ, cáiɴphlò tháɴ, means ‘the escape succeeds’. cáiɴɣà ‘run away’ [255] denotes
running away from danger, etc. This verb followed by tháɴ, cáiɴɣà tháɴ, means ‘runaway from one’s own village forever’. lòɴ ‘follow’ [256] followed by tháɴ means‘take someone’s side, stand by someone’. ʔáɴnàɴ ‘distribute’ [257], followed by làɴ,means ‘give something to the less fortunate’ in charity work, etc. The last verb θá‘breathe’ [258] means ‘breathe in’ when followed by tháɴ, and ‘breathe out’ when
followed by làɴ.
3.11 (K) <No use>
The verbs in this group ([259]‒[281]) cannot co-occur with either tháɴ or làɴ inany context.
Why do these verbs not co-occur with either tháɴ or làɴ?
For example, it is relatively easy to understand why θî ‘die’ [266] does not cooccur with any of them. The event of death is not compatible with the Directionaluse because it has no direction; It is not compatible with the Inchoative use because
it is a momentary phenomenon; Since the Intensive use is often found in verbs thatare closely related to a downward direction, it is easy to understand why the verb
that expresses the event “to die”, which is not directly related to a downward
direction, is not observed in this use; The Restrictive use is for verbs with twomeanings, and θî is not used in this category because it does not fit that condition;
The Integrated and Special uses are only found in certain verbs and have nothing to
do with θî.
As for the two stative verbs θà tháɴ (heart / ascend) ‘angry’ [280] and θà làɴ(heart / descend) ‘sad’ [281], they do not co-occur with tháɴ or làɴ probably because
these verbs are idioms containing the verbs tháɴ and làɴ.
In this way, some verbs can be explained as to why they cannot co-occur witheither tháɴ or làɴ. However, for many verbs, it is difficult to explain why they cannot
co-occur with either tháɴ or làɴ. For example, the action of crawling denoted by theverb khwɛ̀ ‘crawl’ [262] involves a movement. Nevertheless, whether the movement
is upward or downward, khwɛ̀ cannot co-occur with tháɴ or làɴ. This is all the morestrange given that the Western Pwo Karen verb swá ‘crawl’ can co-occur with boththàɴ ‘up’ and láɴ ‘down’, indicating direction (see Kato 2013), as will be discussed
in 4. Furthermore, dʊ́ ‘strike’ [277] cannot co-occur with tháɴ or làɴ, even if thestriking motion is upward or downward. mànī̱ ‘take’ [278] also cannot co-occur withtháɴ or làɴ, even in situations where the referent of the object moves upward or
downward. Again, the verbs ɗò meaning ‘strike’ and mánê meaning ‘take’ inWestern Pwo Karen can co-occur with either thàɴ ‘up’ or láɴ ‘down’ indicating
direction (Kato 2013). Given this fact, it is difficult to understand why the verbs dʊ́‘strike’ and mànī̱ ‘take’ cannot co-occur with either of the verb particles. As for khwɛ̀
‘crawl’, it seems to be compatible with inchoativity, because crawling is an actionthat is continuable. Thus, it is not surprising if tháɴ, exhibiting the use of Inchoative
1, co-occurs with this verb. However, this use of tháɴ also does not co-occur with

Eastern Pwo Karen Verb Particles Indicating ‘Up’ and ‘Down’ 171

khwɛ̀. It seems very difficult to give a reasonable explanation for the fact that theseverbs do not co-occur with either tháɴ or làɴ.

4. Differences with Western Pwo Karen

Kato (2013) discusses the Western Pwo Karen verb particles thàɴ ‘up’ and láɴ‘down’. These correspond etymologically to the EPK verb particles tháɴ and làɴ,
respectively. Various differences can be seen between Western Pwo Karen and EPK,
with the most striking difference being the pitch of the tones. This is also true for the
pitch of these verb particles, that is, the pitch has an inverse relationship: Eastern/tháɴ/ [high-level] vs. Western /thàɴ/ [low-level]; Eastern /làɴ/ [low-level] vs.
Western /láɴ/ [high-level].
Kato (2013) recognized three uses of thàɴ and láɴ in Western Pwo Karen: uses
for direction, inchoativity, and emphasis. These are semantically equivalent to the
Directional, Inchoative, and Intensive uses in this article, respectively. However,there is a major difference. That is, the use of inchoativity in Western Pwo
corresponds only to the use of Inchoative 2 in this article and not to Inchoative 1. In
the use of Inchoative 1 in EPK, tháɴ follows the active verbs. In Kato (2013), theuse of thàɴ following an active verb in Western Pwo was considered to be for theuse of emphasis, except when it indicates direction. I now believe that the use of thàɴfollowing an active verb in Western Pwo may be given the same labeling as the useof Inchoative 1 in the present article. However, a re-examination of Western Pwo isneeded to draw any conclusions. Furthermore, in Kato (2013), the Restrictive,
Integrated, and Special uses were not recognized, but perhaps these three uses arealso likely to exist in Western Pwo. Again, this requires a re-examination.
Comparing verbs expressing the same meaning in EPK and Western Pwo, theco-occurability of tháɴ/thàɴ and làɴ/láɴ is common in many cases, however, there
are also quite a few cases where the two languages differ. I would like to point out
here such cases. For example, EPK phóɴ ‘catch’ [261], khwɛ̀ ‘crawl’ [262], dʊ́ ‘strike’[277], and mànī̱ ‘take’ [278] cannot co-occur with either tháɴ or làɴ, but thesemantically corresponding Western Pwo Karen verbs phàuɴ ‘catch’, swá ‘crawl’,ɗò ‘strike’, and mánê ‘take’ can co-occur with both thàɴ and láɴ (Western Pwo swá‘crawl’, ɗò ‘strike’, and mánê ‘take’ have already been mentioned in 3.11). EPK méblɔ́ ‘blind’ [142], jó ‘deep’ [148], cîcá ‘dirty’ [150], làɴlài ‘dull, blunt’ [152], andnә̂ɴcí ‘stink’ [204] co-occur with tháɴ of Inchoative 2, but the semanticallycorresponding Western Pwo verbs meʔ ɓlàu ‘blind’, joʔ ‘deep’, ɓàθaʔlò ‘dirty’,láɴleiʔ ‘dull, blunt’, and nә́ʔù ‘smell bad’ co-occur with láɴ to the contrary (Western
Pwo meʔ ɓlàu ‘blind’ and ɓàθaʔlò ‘dirty’ have already been mentioned in 3.7). EPK
pwài ‘tired’ [211] and ʔwà ‘white’ [215] co-occur only with the tháɴ of Inchoative
2, but the semantically corresponding Western Pwo verbs pwí ‘tired’ and ɓwá ‘white’
can co-occur with both thàɴ and láɴ; however, the difference between the use of thàɴand láɴ is uncertain. EPK ʔéiɴ ‘narrow’ [224] co-occurs only with làɴ of Inchoative
2, but the semantically corresponding Western Pwo verb ʔàiɴ ‘narrow’ can co-occur
with both thàɴ and láɴ; however, the difference between the use of thàɴ and láɴ isuncertain. EPK ʔwì ‘slow’ [234] can co-occur with the tháɴ and làɴ of Inchoative 2,
but the semantically corresponding Western Pwo verb ɕâu ‘slow’ can co-occur onlywith láɴ. Thus, there are quite a few cases where the co-occurability of tháɴ/thàɴand làɴ/láɴ differs between Eastern and Western Pwo Karen.

172 Atsuhiko KATO

5. Concluding remarks

Let us summarize what has been discussed above.
Six basic uses of the Eastern Pwo Karen verb particles tháɴ and làɴ can be set
up based on the meanings they exhibit: Directional, Inchoative, Intensive, Restrictive,
Integrated, and Special. Of these, the Directional use can be further divided into three
categories, and Inchoative into two. Namely, there are nine uses of tháɴ and làɴaltogether: Directional 1, Directional 2, Directional 3, Inchoative 1, Inchoative 2,
Intensive, Restrictive, Integrated, and Special. Which of these uses tháɴ and làɴ
exhibit is fixed by the co-occurring verb, and some verbs do not co-occur with either
tháɴ or làɴ. Based on this viewpoint, all the verbs in EPK can be divided into 11
groups: (A) <Directional 1>; (B) <Directional 2>; (C) <Directional 3>; (D)<Inchoative 1>; (E) <Intensive>; (F) <Inchoative 1 & Intensive>; (G) <Inchoative2>; (H) <Restrictive>; (I) <Integrated>; (J) <Special>; and (K) <No use>. Table 3
shows the relationship between each group and the uses of tháɴ and làɴ.
Table 3: Groups of the verbs and the uses of tháɴ/làɴ
Examplesa/s(A) <Directional 1>lì̱ ‘go’a(B) <Directional 2>jʊ̄ ‘look’a(C) <Directional 3>
chó ‘lift’a(D) <Inchoative 1>ʔáɴ ‘eat’a(E) <Intensive>kɯ́ ‘peel’a(F) <Inchoative 1 &ná ‘count’aIntensive>s(G) <Inchoative 2>ʔá ‘many’sɕà ‘few’spháʊ ‘soft’(H) <Restrictive>θò ‘wear’a(I) <Integrated>pàʊ ‘open (vt)’náʊ ‘enter’a(J) <Special>lòɴ ‘follow’aʔáɴnàɴ ‘distribute’aθá ‘breathe’(K) <No use>θî ‘die’aθà tháɴ ‘angry’
s

tháɴ
Up
Up
Up
Incho
Incho

làɴ
Down
Down
Down
Inten
Inten

Incho
Incho
Restr
Integ
Spec
Spec
-

Incho
Incho
Integ
Spec
Spec
-

All the verbs belonging to Groups (A), (B), and (C) can co-occur both with tháɴand làɴ of the Directional use. Verbs belonging to the other groups cannot co-occur
with both tháɴ and làɴ of the same use, except for a few verbs in Group (G) andGroup (J). In other words, with respect to the co-occurrence with tháɴ and làɴ of thesame use, the verbs in Groups (A), (B), and (C) show symmetry, while the verbs inthe other groups do not.
There are two significant differences between active and stative verbs: (i) All
stative verbs except the two stative verbs in Group (K) can co-occur with tháɴ or làɴ,
while some of the active verbs cannot co-occur with either tháɴ or làɴ; (ii) WhenEastern Pwo Karen Verb Particles Indicating ‘Up’ and ‘Down’ 173

stative verbs co-occur with tháɴ and làɴ, both tháɴ and làɴ exhibit the Inchoativeuse only; On the other hand, when active verbs co-occur with tháɴ or làɴ, the usesthat tháɴ and làɴ exhibit are not limited to one use; that is, one of the following five
uses: Directional, Inchoative, Intensive, Restrictive, and Special.
Restrictive usage is only exhibited by tháɴ, while Intensive usage is only
exhibited by làɴ. Furthermore, when only active verbs are taken into account,
Inchoative usage is only exhibited by tháɴ.
These are summaries of what we have discussed so far.
A major issue in the description of tháɴ and làɴ is whether the co-occurability oftháɴ or làɴ with any given verb is predictable or unpredictable. As noted above,
stative verbs belong to Group (G), except for two verbs. That is, they can co-occur
with either or both tháɴ and làɴ. However, as discussed in 3.7, it is difficult to predictwhether tháɴ or làɴ can co-occur with any given stative verb. For active verbs,
predicting co-occurability seems to be even more difficult than for stative verbs. As
discussed in 3.11, it is difficult to reasonably explain why khwɛ̀ ‘crawl’ [262], dʊ́‘strike’ [277], and mànī̱ ‘take’ [278] cannot co-occur with tháɴ or làɴ in the
Directional use. In Western Pwo Karen, the semantically corresponding verbs tothese three verbs can co-occur with any of the verb particles corresponding to tháɴand làɴ in the use of direction. Taking Western Pwo Karen into account, it becomeseven more difficult to explain why these verbs do not fall into groups (A), (B), and(C). In 3.4, 3.5, and 3.6, I also noted that with respect to the groups (D), (E), and (F),it is difficult to find semantic commonalities among the verbs in each group. Given
these facts, at this point the question of whether it is predictable or unpredictable thattháɴ or làɴ can follow any given verb can only be answered as impossible. If this is
the case, then it would seem that the co-occurrence of a verb with tháɴ/làɴ is only to
be considered as a fixed combination.
There are further issues that need to be considered. One question is why làɴ cooccurring with an active verb does not exhibit the Inchoative use while tháɴ cooccurring with an active verb can exhibit this use. Given that làɴ exhibits the
Inchoative use when co-occurring with a stative verb, it is difficult to explain why itdoes not exhibit this use when co-occurring with an active verb. Conversely, there isalso the question of why tháɴ never exhibits the Intensive use while làɴ co-occurringwith an active verb can exhibit the Intensive use. The explanation of such differences
between tháɴ and làɴ in the directions of semantic change is left for future research.
Finally, I would like to mention three similar phenomena in some genealogicallyrelated or neighboring languages.
The first is about other Karenic languages. As noted in Kato (2013), forms that
correspond etymologically to the verbs tháɴ ‘ascend’ and làɴ ‘descend’ and indicate
upward and downward directions, are found in other Karenic languages: Sgaw Karenparticles thɔ̂ ‘upwards’ and lɔ̄ ‘downwards’ (Kato 1993); Kayah Li bounddirectionals pәthɛ ‘upwards’ and tālɛ̄ ‘downwards’ (Solnit 1997: 136–137); Kayan
directional suffixes -tʰân ‘upwards’ and -la̤ ̀ n ‘downwards’ (Manson 2010: 142–145);
and Bwe Karen verbal suffixes -tha ‘up’ (Henderson 1997:336–337) and -la ‘down’(Henderson 1997: 204–205). All of these are forms that originate from the verbs thatmean ‘ascend’ and ‘descend’. However, it is likely that there will be a variety ofdifferences in the uses of these morphemes from language to language.

174 Atsuhiko KATO

The second is about the neighboring languages. In some neighboring TibetoBurman languages of Karen, it is well known that the verbs meaning ‘go’ or ‘come’express inchoativity, e.g., t̪ wá ‘go’ and là ‘come’ in Burmese (Okell 1969: 438‒439,
328‒329), and qay ‘go’ in Lahu (Matisoff 1973: 223, 240; Matisoff 1991: 407). The
EPK verbs meaning ‘go’ and ‘come’ do not have this use; instead, tháɴ indicates
inchoativity (As noted in Section 1, the verbs for going and coming have not beengrammaticalized in EPK). In neighboring Thai and Lao, however, the verbs meaning‘ascend’ and ‘descend’ express inchoativity (For Thai, see Noss [1964: 189‒190]
and Iwasaki & Ingkaphirom [2005: 168‒170]; for Lao, see Enfield [2007: 259‒260]
and Suzuki [2009]). In this respect, EPK resembles Thai and Lao.
The third is about the Qiangic group of Tibeto-Burman. Shirai and Nagano(2022), dealing with nDrapa and rGyalrong, present a model in which directional
affixes in these languages come to express telicity in the final phase of semanticchange. Telicity is a concept related to the endpoint of an action. On the other hand,
EPK tháɴ expresses inchoativity of an action but not completion, as discussed indetail in 3.4. That is, tháɴ is related to the starting point, not the endpoint of an action.
It is interesting that the morphemes representing movement are oriented toward theendpoint in Qiangic and toward the starting point in EPK. This fact probably implies
that the endpoint and starting point, while appearing to be oppositely related, are infact closely related. The endpoint of some situation is also the starting point of thenext new situation. For example, in the situation represented by the verb tháɴ‘ascend’, an entity moves from a lower to a higher position. In this situation, theupward movement is both the endpoint of a situation in which the entity is in a lower
position and the starting point of a situation in which it is in a higher position.
Therefore, it is not surprising that morphemes denoting a direction could indicate theendpoint of a situation in one language and the starting point in another.

Abbreviations

Down = downward; Incho = inchoative; Integ = integrated; Inten = intensive; Lit =literally; LOC = the particle lә́ indicating source, location, and goal; PFV =perfective; PL = plural; Q = question marker; Restr = restrictive; SG = singular; Spec= special; THA = the verb particle indicating retention of a result; Up = upward; V= verb; vi = intransitive verb; vt = transitive verb; 1 = first person; 2 = second person;
3 = third person.

Sounds and transcription

The transcription used in this study is phonemic. Consonant phonemes are /p, θ[θ~t̪ θ~t̪ ], t, c [tɕ], k, ʔ, ph [ph], th [th], ch [tɕh], kh [kh], b [ɓ], d [ɗ~d], ɕ, x, h, ɣ, ʁ, m,n, ɲ, (ŋ), ɴ, w, j, l, (r [r~ɽ~ɻ])/. The bracketed consonants mainly occur in loan words.
Rhymes are /i [(ә̆)i], ɨ, ɯ [(ә̆)ɯ], i̠ [ɪ], ʊ, e, ә, o, ɛ, a, ɔ, ai, aʊ, әɴ [әɴ~ә̃], aɴ [ɑ̆ɔɴ~ɑ̃],oɴ [oɴ~õ], eiɴ [eiɴ~ei], әɯɴ [әɯɴ~әɯ], oʊɴ [oʊɴ~oʊ], aiɴ [aiɴ~aĩ]/. There are four
tones: high-level /á/ [55], mid-level /ā/ [33~334], low-level /à/ [11], and falling /â/[51]. Pwo Karen has atonic syllables, which can occur in all positions except
utterance final. The only rhyme that can occur in atonic syllables is /ә/, and atonic
syllables are transcribed with no tone marking.
I formerly transcribed the vowel phoneme /i̠ / [ɪ] as /ɩ/. However, the symbol /ɩ/is difficult to distinguish from /i/ when they are written with a tone sign. Compare,Eastern Pwo Karen Verb Particles Indicating ‘Up’ and ‘Down’ 175

for example, /ɩ́/ and /í/. Moreover, /ɩ́/ and /í/ are hard to distinguish from each otherin some IPA fonts in italics. Therefore, I presently use /i̠ / instead of /ɩ/.

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Norihiko Hayashi and Yoshihisa Taguchi for reading thethe draft and making a number of valuable comments and criticisms. I am also deeply
grateful to my Karen friends, Mr. Saw Khin Maung Aye and Ms. Naw Snow Paw,
who dedicated a lot of time to this survey. They have been helping my research in
Eastern Pwo Karen with patience as native speakers since 2019.

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