Kayan, also known as,Padaung orPadaung Karen) is aKaren language ofBurma, spoken by theKayan people. The Kayan dialects share more than 90% lexical similarity.^[2] Padaung is 71% to 76% lexically similar toLahta.^[3]

• Pekhon, southernShan State^[4]
• northwesternKayah State^[5]
• Thandaung township,Kayin State^[6]
• Pyinmana township,Mandalay Region^[7]
• Kayan Lahwi dialect:Lahwi and northwestDimawso,Kayah State; southernPekhon, southernShan State^[8]
• Kayan Yinbaw/Kangan dialect:Dimawso area, northwesternKayah State^[9]

The Kayan languages are spoken inKayah State, southernShan State, and northernKaren State. There are four branches according to Shintani (2016),^[10] namely:^[11]

• Kangan ("lowland dwellers")
• Kakhaung ("highland dwellers")
• Lawi ("South")
• Latha ("North")

Nangki (sometimes called Langki), documented in Shintani (2016), is one of the Kayan languages belonging to the Kakhaung subgroup. It is spoken only in one village.

Pekong Kayan is documented in Manson (2010).

Sonkan Kayan andDosanbu Kayan are documented in Shintani (2018a, b).^[12][13] Shintani has also documented:by families or by villages as below:

• Phulon Kayan^[14]
• Lagu Kayan^[15]
• Totan Kayan^[16]
• Dokhoncon Kayan^[17]
• Natwei Kayan^[18]
• Pimon Kayan^[19]
• Sonplao Kayan^[20]
• Dolan Kayan^[21]
• Thaoku Kayan^[22]
• Diklon Kayan^[23]
• Pulon Kayan^[24]
• Kabla Kayan^[25]
• Kathan Kayan^[26]
• Kalondei Kayan^[27]
• Ramaku, Subao, Kadu, Huason, Hanti, Sonpu Kayan (Shintani 2022)

Dimawso Kayan, a Kayan variety spoken in Wanbanbalo village, Dimawso township,Kayah State,Myanmar, is described in Lew (2018).^[28]

Ethnologue lists Padaung (Kayan) dialects as:

• Standard Pekon (prestige dialect)
• Kayan Lahwi
• Kayan Kangan (Yeinbaw, Yinbaw)

• Voiced stops /b, d/ can also range to pre-glottalized stops [ʔb, ʔd] in free variation among speakers.
• /θ/ shows fluctuation to [s] in some closely related dialects.
• /ɾ/ is heard as a glide [ɹ] in syllable-medial position. It is heard as a tap [ɾ] elsewhere.

• Sounds /ɨ, a, ə, u/ phonetically range to [ɨ̠, a̟, ɤ̟, ʊ] in free variation.
• Breathiness [V̤] is also evenly distributed among all sounds.^[29]

• Shintani, Tadahiko. 2020.A handbook of comparative Kayan languages. Linguistic survey of Tay cultural area (LSTCA). Tokyo: Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa (ILCAA).
• Aung, Wai Lin. 2013.A Descriptive Grammar of Kayah Monu. Master’s thesis, Payap University.
• Ywar, Naw Hsa Eh. 2013.A Grammar of Kayan Lahta. Master’s thesis, Payap University.

• Karenic languages

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