Burmese, myanma bhasa, belongs to the Lolo-Burmese sub-branch of the Tibeto-Burmese branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family. It is spoken by the majority of the population in Myanmar (formerly Burma). It is also spoken in Bangladesh, Malaysia, Thailand, and the U.S. The total Burmese-speaking population of the world is estimated at slightly above 32 million people (Ethnologue).
Throughout history, Burmese has been in contact with speakers of other languages such as Pali and Mon, the earliest groups to occupy Burma in the 12th-13th centuries, and later with European languages such as Portuguese, Dutch, English and French in the 16th-19th centuries. These languages have all influenced the spoken, but not on the written form of Burmese. As a result, modern colloquial Burmese used in everyday conversations differs significantly from the formal written form of the language used in textbooks, formal writing, newspapers, fiction, and expository prose. The written language retains many Pali words and syntactic structures no longer found in the spoken language.
Status:
Burmese is the official language of Myanmar (since 1989, the name for Burma) where it is spoken by 32 million people. It is used in the media, government administration, and all levels of education. The use of minority languages is suppressed by the authoritarian regime.
Burmese language, also called Myanmar, the official language of Myanmar (Burma), spoken as a native language by the majority of Burmans and as a second language by most native speakers of other languages in the country. Burmese and the closely related Lolo dialects belong, together with the Kachinish and Kukish languages of Myanmar and neighbouring countries, to the Tibeto-Burman group of the Sino-Tibetan language family. Modern standard Burmese has undergone more changes from Old Burmese than have most of the dialects; the Arakanese dialect is especially conservative.
Grammar:
Burmese is an analytic language which means that grammatical functions are expressed by word order and by postpositional particles rather than by inflections as is the case in Indo-European languages. Particles include subject markers, equivalents of prepositions, and classifiers, i.e., words used in counting. Particles can also have discourse functions, for example, to indicate the topic of a sentence.
Vocabulary:
Hinduism and Buddhism have had a profound religious and linguistic effect on Burmese. As a result, learned or specialized words which came into the spoken language through the written one often contain Pali loanwords, similar to Latinate words in English. British rule (1886-1937) brought a large number of English words into the language, particularly those related to business, technology, science and politics. As a result, sometimes there are competing terms, one borrowed and one native, for instance, telibihyn and yoʔmiyin θanea, literally ‘image-see sound-hear’, i.e, ‘television’. New words are normally formed from native elements through compounding, prefixation and reduplication.
Below are a few words and phrases in Burmese (in transliteration):
Formal greeting at any time of the day-Mingâlaba (formal)
Good bye-Thwa dau me
Please-Kyeizu pyu yue
Thank you-Kyeizu tin ba de
Yes-Hode
No-Mahobu
Article by,
Vaishnavi. V
1813721033045
Throughout history, Burmese has been in contact with speakers of other languages such as Pali and Mon, the earliest groups to occupy Burma in the 12th-13th centuries, and later with European languages such as Portuguese, Dutch, English and French in the 16th-19th centuries. These languages have all influenced the spoken, but not on the written form of Burmese. As a result, modern colloquial Burmese used in everyday conversations differs significantly from the formal written form of the language used in textbooks, formal writing, newspapers, fiction, and expository prose. The written language retains many Pali words and syntactic structures no longer found in the spoken language.
Status:
Burmese is the official language of Myanmar (since 1989, the name for Burma) where it is spoken by 32 million people. It is used in the media, government administration, and all levels of education. The use of minority languages is suppressed by the authoritarian regime.
Burmese language, also called Myanmar, the official language of Myanmar (Burma), spoken as a native language by the majority of Burmans and as a second language by most native speakers of other languages in the country. Burmese and the closely related Lolo dialects belong, together with the Kachinish and Kukish languages of Myanmar and neighbouring countries, to the Tibeto-Burman group of the Sino-Tibetan language family. Modern standard Burmese has undergone more changes from Old Burmese than have most of the dialects; the Arakanese dialect is especially conservative.
Grammar:
Burmese is an analytic language which means that grammatical functions are expressed by word order and by postpositional particles rather than by inflections as is the case in Indo-European languages. Particles include subject markers, equivalents of prepositions, and classifiers, i.e., words used in counting. Particles can also have discourse functions, for example, to indicate the topic of a sentence.
Vocabulary:
Hinduism and Buddhism have had a profound religious and linguistic effect on Burmese. As a result, learned or specialized words which came into the spoken language through the written one often contain Pali loanwords, similar to Latinate words in English. British rule (1886-1937) brought a large number of English words into the language, particularly those related to business, technology, science and politics. As a result, sometimes there are competing terms, one borrowed and one native, for instance, telibihyn and yoʔmiyin θanea, literally ‘image-see sound-hear’, i.e, ‘television’. New words are normally formed from native elements through compounding, prefixation and reduplication.
Below are a few words and phrases in Burmese (in transliteration):
Formal greeting at any time of the day-Mingâlaba (formal)
Good bye-Thwa dau me
Please-Kyeizu pyu yue
Thank you-Kyeizu tin ba de
Yes-Hode
No-Mahobu
Article by,
Vaishnavi. V
1813721033045
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