Burmese language Totally Explained

Everything about The Burmese Language totally explained

The Burmese language is the official language of Burma. Although the government officially recognizes the language as Myanmar, most continue to refer to the language as Burmese. It is the native language of the Bamar and other related sub-ethnic groups of the Bamar. It is spoken by 32 million as a first language, and as a second language by ethnic minorities in Burma.
Burmese is a member of the Tibeto-Burman languages, which is a subfamily of the Sino-Tibetan family of languages. Burmese is a tonal and analytic language. The language uses the Burmese script, derived from the Mon script and ultimately from the Brāhmī script.

Literary language and spoken language

Burmese is classified into two categories. One is formal, used in literary works, official publications, radio broadcasts, and formal speeches. The other is colloquial, used in daily conversation. This is reflected in Burmese words for "language": ca [sà] refers to written, literary language, and ca.ka: [zəgá] refers to spoken language. Burmese therefore can mean either mranma ca (written Burmese), or mranma ca.ka: (spoken Burmese). The mranma portion of these names may be or, more colloquially, [bəmà].

Diglossia

Diglossia occurs to a large extent in Burmese. The discrepancy is quite large, and many linguists consider formal Burmese to be a separate language from colloquial Burmese. The written and prestige form of Burmese has undergone only a few changes and tends not to accommodate the colloquial phonology of standard Burmese today. The Burmese saying "the pronunciation is merely the sound, whilst the orthography is correct" ([pʰaʔdɔ̰ əθàn jé dɔ̰ əm̥àn]) reflects upon the differences between spoken and written Burmese, as spelling is often not an accurate reflection of pronunciation.
   In addition, different particles (to modify nouns and verbs) are used in the prestige form than in the spoken form. Literate Burmese speakers are able to intuitively interpret ancient Burmese despite transcriptions that date many centuries due to innate pronunciation rules. For example, (hnai.), which serves as a postposition after nouns is only used in formal Burmese, and is (hma) in colloquial Burmese.
   There are various branches of the colloquial form as well. One form is used when speaking to elders and teachers. Different pronouns referring to oneself (such as the usage of or ) are used. When speaking to a person of the same status or of younger age, (nga [ŋà]) is used. When speaking to a monk, a person must refer to the monk as poun-poun and to himself as (da. ga [dəgà]). Burmese monks may speak to fellow monks using Pāli, and it's expected of faithful Burmese Buddhists to have a basic knowledge of Pāli.
   Despite the large differences, Burmese speakers rarely distinguish formal and colloquial Burmese as separate languages, but rather as two registers of the same language.
   Many have contended that a newer system of orthography for Burmese be created (one based on phonology), to accommodate such differences. In addition, some Burmese linguists have proposed to shift away from formal Burmese, as seen in the gradual changes in form on television broadcasts. However, formal Burmese remains well-established in Burmese. Another obstacle in reforming Burmese orthography are conservative Burmese dialects (that retain older pronunciations more similar to formal Burmese), which primarily come from coastal areas.

Dialects and accents

Despite its Upper Burmese origins, the standard dialect of Burmese today comes from Yangon, because of the largest city's media influence. It used to be that the speech from Mandalay represented standard Burmese. Still most differences between Yangon (Lower Burma) and Mandalay (Upper Burma) are not in the accent or pronunciation but in the vocabulary usage. For example, the most noticeable feature of the Mandalay dialect is its use of the pronoun (kya. nau [tʃənɔ̀]) for both males and females, whereas in Yangon, (kya. ma. [tʃəma̰]) refers to females. Moreover, Upper Burmese speech still differentiates maternal and paternal sides of relatives whereas Lower Burmese speech does not.
However, more distinctive accent and word usage differences emerge in the peripheral areas of the Ayeyarwady valley. Dialects include Merguese, Yaw, Palaw, Beik (Myeik), and Dawei (Tavoyan). The Rakhine dialect (Arakanese) is most reminiscent of archaic Burmese, especially in its usage of the [r] sound, which has become a [j] sound in standard Burmese. Dialects in Tanintharyi Division (such as Beik) often reduce the intensity of the glottal stop. The Dawei dialect has preserved the [-l-] medial, which is only found in Old Burmese transcriptions. Despite vocabulary and pronunciation differences, there's mutual intelligibility among the dialects.

Vocabulary

The majority of Burmese vocabulary is of Tibeto-Burman stock. However, the Burmese language has been influenced by Pali, English, and Mon, and to a lesser extent, by Chinese, Sanskrit and Hindi.

Pali loan words are often related to religion, government, arts, and science.
English loan words are often related to technology, measurements and modern institutions.
Mon has heavily influenced Burmese, and many loan words have become so well incorporated in the Burmese language that they're not distinguished as loan words.
Sanskrit, Chinese, and Hindi loan words are also found (albeit to a much lesser degree) in Burmese.

Here is a sample of loan words found in Burmese:

suffering: ([doʔkʰa̰]), from Pāli dukkha

radio: ([rèdìyò]), from English "radio"

dish: ([bəgàn]), from Mon

eggroll: ([kɔ̀pja̰n]), from Hokkien 潤餅 (jūn-piáⁿ)

wife: ([zəní]), from Hindi jani

noodle: ([kʰaʊʔsʰwé), from Shan khauk suing As a result, Burmese tends to have many synonyms of the same word, each having certain usages, such as formal, literary, colloquial, and poetic. One example is the word "moon", which can be la (Tibeto-Burman), sanda or san (both Pali derivatives of chanda), or thaw-da (from Sanskrit).

Script

The Burmese script is characterized by its circular letters and diacritics. It is an abugida, with all letters having an inherent vowel (a. [a̰] or [ə]). Tone markings are in the form of diacritics placed to the left, right, top, and bottom of letters, but are not always indicative of the proper tone. Likewise, written Burmese has preserved all nasalised finals ([-n,m, -ŋ]), which have merged to [-n] in spoken Burmese. The exception is [-ɲ], which, in spoken Burmese, can be one of many open vowels ([i,e, ɛ]). Likewise, other consonantal finals ([-s,-p, -t, -k]) have been reduced to [-ʔ]. Similar mergings are seen in other languages, including Shanghainese, and to a lesser extent, Cantonese.
Evidence of written Burmese dates to the early 12th century AD, from the Myazedi stone inscription (written 1113), which was a story written about Prince Yazukuma in Pyu, Mon, Pali, and Burmese. During the reign of King Anawrahta, the Mon script, which descended from the Brāhmī script, was adopted for transcribing Burmese. Many changes to suit the phonology of Burmese were made. Standardised tone marking wasn't achieved until the 1700s. Much of the orthography in written Burmese today can be traced back to middle Burmese, which had a wider range of finals. However, during colonial rule under the British, spelling was standardised through dictionaries and spellers.

Phonology

The transcriptions in this section use the International Phonetic Alphabet.

Consonants

The consonants of Burmese are as follows:

	Bilabial	Dental	Alveolar	Postalveolar and palatal	Velar and labiovelar	Glottal	Placeless
Plosive and Affricate	pʰ p b	tʰ t d		tʃʰ tʃ dʒ	kʰ k g	ʔ
Nasal	m̥ m	n̥ n		ɲ̥ ɲ	ŋ̊ ŋ		N
Fricative		θ (ð)	sʰ s z	ʃ		h
Approximant		(ɹ)		j	(ʍ) w
Lateral		ɬ l

The approximant /ɹ/ is rare, and is only used in place names that have preserved Sanskrit or Pali pronunciations (for example Amarapura, which is pronounced [àməɹa̰pùra̰]) and in English-derived words. Historically, /ɹ/ became /j/ in Burmese, and is usually replaced by /j/ in Pāli loanwords, for example (ra.hanta) /jəhàNdà/ "monk", (raja.) /jàza̰/ "king". Occasionally it's replaced with /l/, as in the case of the Pali-derived word for "animal" (ti.rac hcan), which can be pronounced [təɹeiʔsʰàn] or [təleiʔsʰàn]. Likewise, /ʍ/ is rare, having disappeared from modern Burmese, except in transcriptions of foreign names. [ð] is uncommon, except as a voiced allophone of /θ/.
The phones /pʰ, p/ are often pronounced as /b/, /kʰ, k/ as /g/, /tʃʰ, tʃ/ as /dʒ/, and /sʰ, s/ as /z/ in compound words. /dʒ/, when following a nasalised final can become a /j/ sound. For example, "blouse" (ang kyi) can be pronounced /èiNdʒí/ or /èiNjí/. However, this effect only occurs in compound words.
The placeless nasal /N/ is realized as nasalization of the preceding vowel or as a nasal homorganic to the following consonant; thus /mòuNdáiN/ "storm" is pronounced [mõ̀ũndã́ĩ].

Vowels

The vowels of Burmese are:

	Monophthongs		Diphthongs
	Front	Back	Front offglide	Back offglide
Close	i	u
Close-mid	e	o	eɪ	oʊ
Mid	ə
Open-mid	ɛ	ɔ
Open		a	aɪ	aʊ

The monophthongs /e/, /o/, /ə/, and /ɔ/ occur only in open syllables (those without a syllable coda); the diphthongs /ei/, /ou/, /ai/, and /au/ occur only in closed syllables (those with a syllable coda).

Tones

Burmese is a tonal language, which means phonemic contrasts can be made on the basis of the tone of a vowel. In Burmese, these contrasts involve not only pitch, but also phonation, intensity (loudness), duration, and vowel quality. There are four contrastive tones in Burmese. In the following table the tones are shown marked on the vowel /a/ as an example; the phonetic descriptions are from Wheatley (1987).

Tone name	Symbol (shown on a)	Description
Low	à	Normal phonation, medium duration, low intensity, low (often slightly rising) pitch
High	á	Sometimes slightly breathy, relatively long, high intensity, high pitch; often with a fall before a pause
Creaky	a̰	tense or creaky phonation (sometimes with lax glottal stop), medium duration, high intensity, high (often slightly falling) pitch
Checked	aʔ	Centralized vowel quality, final glottal stop, short duration, high pitch (in citation; can vary in context)

For example, the following words are distinguished from each other only on the basis of tone:

Low /kʰà/ "shake"

High /kʰá/ "be bitter"

Creaky /kʰa̰/ "fee"

Checked /kʰaʔ/ "draw off" In syllables ending with /N/, the Checked tone is excluded:

Low /kʰàN/ "undergo"

High /kʰáN/ "dry up"

Creaky /kʰa̰N/ "appoint"

Syllable structure

The syllable structure of Burmese is C(G)V((V)C), which is to say the onset consists of a consonant optionally followed by a glide, and the rhyme consists of a monophthong alone, a monophthong with a consonant, or a diphthong with a consonant. The only consonants that can stand in the coda are /ʔ/ and /N/. Some representative words are:

CV /mè/ 'girl'

CVC /mɛʔ/ 'crave'

CGV /mjè/ 'earth'

CGVC /mjɛʔ/ 'eye'

CVVC /màuN/ (term of address for young men)

CGVVC /mjáuN/ 'ditch' A syllable whose vowel is /ə/ has some restrictions:

It must be an open syllable (no coda consonant)

It can't bear tone

It has only a simple (C) onset (no glide after the consonant)

It must not the final syllable of the word Some examples of words containing /ə/-syllables:

/kʰə.louʔ/ 'knob'

/pə.lwè/ 'flute'

/θə.jɔ̀/ 'mock'

/kə.lɛʔ/ 'be wanton'

/tʰə.mə.jè/ 'rice-water'

Grammar

The word order of the Burmese language is subject-object-verb. The only exception to this rule is the verb 'to be', (kà. [ga̰]), which is placed directly after the subject. Pronouns in Burmese vary according to the gender and status of the audience. Burmese is monosyllabic, that is, every word is a root to which a particle but not another word may be prefixed (Ko, 1924, p viii). Sentence structure determines syntactical relations, and verbs are not conjugated but have particles suffixed to them. For example, the verb 'to eat' is (ca: [sà]), and remains the same.

Adjectives

Adjectives may precede a noun (for example hkyau: tai. lu [tʃʰɔ́dɛ̰ lù] "beautiful" + + "person") or follow a noun (for example lu hkyau: [lùtʃʰɔ́] "person" + "beautiful"). Superlatives are usually indicated with the prefix (a. [ʔə]) + adj. + (hcum: [zóuN]). Numeric adjectives follow the noun.

Verbs

The roots of Burmese verbs are almost always suffixed with at least one particle which conveys such information as tense, intention, politeness, mood etc. In fact, the only time in which no particle is attached to a verb is in commands. However Burmese verbs are not conjugated in the same way as most European languages; the root of the Burmese verb always remains unchanged, and doesn't have to agree with the subject in person, number or gender.
The most commonly used verb particles and their usage are shown below with the verb root (ca: [sá]) which means "eat".

(ca: tai [sádɛ̀]) - I eat The suffix tai [dɛ̀] can be viewed as a particle marking the present tense and/or a factual statement.

(ca: hkai. tai [ságɛ̰ dɛ̀]) - I ate The suffix (hkai. [gɛ̰]) denotes that the action took place in the past. However, this particle isn't always necessary to indicate the past tense such that it can convey the same information without it. But to emphasise that the action happened before another event that's also currently being discussed, the particle becomes imperative. Note that the suffix (tai [dɛ̀]) in this case denotes a factual statement rather than the present tense.

(ca: ne tai [sánè dɛ̀]) - I'm eating (ne [nè]) is a particle used to denote that the action is in progression, and is equivalent to the English '-ing'.

((ca.) ca: pri [(sə)sá bjì]) - I'm eating (now) This particle or tense has no equivalence in English. It is used when an action which another person or persons expected to be performed by the subject is finally being performed. So in the above example, if someone had been expecting you to eat and you've finally started eating, the particle (pri [bjì]) is used.

(ca: mai [sámɛ̀]) - I'll eat This particle is used to indicate the future tense or an action which is yet to be performed.

(ca: tau. mai [sádɔ̰ mɛ̀]) - I'll eat (straight-away) The particle (tau. [dɔ̰]) is used when the action is about to be performed immediately. Therefore it could be termed as the "immediate future tense particle". The particle (mai mɛ̀]) is still imperative in this case.
Nouns
Nouns in Burmese are pluralised by the addition of the suffix (twe [dè] or [tè] if the word ends in a glottal stop). The suffix mya [mjà] (or nè, which means "few") is also used, which by itself means "many". The suffix day, which also pluralises nouns, is only used colloquially and mya is used literally and formally.

(nwa: [nwà]) - cow

(nwa: mya: [nwàmjà]) - cows

(mrac [mjiʔ]) - river

(mrac mya: [mjiʔmjà]) - rivers The plural suffix however isn't used when the noun is quantified by being counted.

(hka.le: nga: yauk [kʰəléŋà jauʔ]) is in the order "child" + "five" + (classifier), which is equivalent to "five children".
Numerical classifiers
Burmese, just as in neighbouring languages such as Thai, Bengali, and Chinese, uses nominal classifiers when nouns are being counted or quantified. This approximately equates to English expressions such as "two slices of bread" or "a cup of coffee". In the above example, yauk is the classifier used when referring to people. Classifiers are imperative when counting nouns, so (hka.le: nga: [kʰəléŋà] literally "children five") is ungrammatical. There are many classifiers in Burmese, and some of the most commonly used ones are shown below.

Burmese MLC transcription Phonetic transcription Usage Remarks

pa: [bá] for people Used exclusively for monks and nuns of the Buddhist order

hli: [l̥í] for slices Used in context of food

kaung [kàuN] for animals

hku. [kʰṵ] general classifier Used with almost all nouns except for animate objects

hkwak [kʰwɛʔ] For open containers with liquid

lum: [lóuN] for round objects

pra: [pjá] for flat objects

cang: [síN] or [zíN] for vehicles

cu. [sṵ] or [zṵ] for groups

u: [ʔú] for people Used in formal context and also used for monks and nuns

yauk [jauʔ] for people Used in informal context

Pronouns
Subject pronouns begin sentences. In the imperative forms, the subject is omitted. There are certain pronouns used for different audiences. Object pronouns must have a -go attached immediately after the pronoun. Proper nouns are often substituted for pronouns. In addition, nga and nein are rarely used. One's status (wa) in relation to the audience determines the pronouns used. The basic pronouns are:

Burmese MLC transcription Phonetic transcription English Remarks

nga [ŋà] I/me Informal, used with family and friends

nga tui. [ŋàdo̰] or [ŋàto̰] we Informal

kywan tau
kywan ma. [tʃənɔ̀]
[tʃəma̰] I/me Formal, used by males
Formal, used by females

da. ga
da. ga ma. [dəgà]
[dəgàma̰] I/me Formal, used while speaking to a monk or nun (lit. "donor") exclusively

ta. pany. tau
ta. pany. tau ma. [dəbɛ̀dɔ̀]
[dəbɛ̀dɔ̀ma̰] I/me Formal, used while speaking to a monk or nun (lit. "disciple") exclusively

nang [nèiN] or [nìN] you Informal

nang tui. [nìNdo̰] you all Informal

mang: [míN] you Informal, used among close friends

a hrang [ʔəʃìN] you Formal, used by females

hkang bya: [kʰəmjá] or [kʰìNmjá] you Formal

su [θù] he/she Informal

su tui. [θùdo̰] they Informal

ai: (da) ha [ʔɛ́(dà) hà] it/that Informal, used rudely to refer to animate objects

Reduplication
Reduplication is prevalent in colloquial Burmese, and is used to intensify or weaken adjectives' meanings. For example, (hkyau: [tʃʰɔ́]), which means "beautiful" is reduplicated, the intensity of the adjective's meaning increases.
Romanisation and transcription
There is no official romanisation system for Burmese. There have been attempts to make one, but none have been successful. Replicating Burmese sounds in the Latin script is complicated. There is a Pāli-based transcription system in existence, which was devised by the Myanmar Language Commission (MLC). However, it only transcribes sounds in formal Burmese and is based on the orthography rather than the phonology. Several colloquial transcription systems have been proposed, but none is overwhelmingly preferred over others.
Transcription of Burmese isn't standardized, as seen in the varying English transcriptions of Burmese place names.

Further Information
Get more info on 'Burmese Language'.

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