Burmese language
| Burmese | |
|---|---|
|
မြန်မာစာ (written Burmese) မြန်မာစကား (spoken Burmese) |
|
| Pronunciation | IPA: [mjəmàzà] [mjəmà zəɡá] |
| Native to | Myanmar |
| Ethnicity | Bamar people |
|
Native speakers
|
33 million (2007) Second language: 10 million (no date) |
|
Sino-Tibetan
|
|
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Early forms
|
Old Burmese
|
|
Burmese alphabet Burmese Braille |
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| Official status | |
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Official language in
|
 Myanmar
|
| Regulated by | Myanmar Language Commission |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-1 | my |
| ISO 639-2 |
(B) (T)
|
| ISO 639-3 |
Individual codes: int – Intha tvn – Tavoyan dialects tco – Taungyo dialects rki – Arakanese language ("Rakhine") rmz – Marma ("Burmese") |
| Glottolog | sout3159 |
| Linguasphere | 77-AAA-a |
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The Burmese language (Burmese: မြန်မာဘာသာ, MLCTS: myanma bhasa, IPA: [mjəmà bàðà]) is the official language of Myanmar. Although the Constitution of Myanmar officially recognizes the English name of the language as the Myanmar language, most English speakers continue to refer to the language as Burmese. In 2007, it was spoken as a first language by 33 million, primarily the Bamar (Burman) people and related ethnic groups, and as a second language by 10 million, particularly ethnic minorities in Myanmar and neighboring countries.
Burmese is a tonal, pitch-register, and syllable-timed language, largely monosyllabic and analytic, with a subject–object–verb word order. It is a member of the Lolo-Burmese grouping of the Sino-Tibetan language family. The Burmese alphabet is ultimately descended from a Brahmic script, either Kadamba or Pallava.
Burmese belongs to the Southern Burmish branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages. Burmese is the most widely spoken of the non-Sinitic Sino-Tibetan languages. Burmese was the fifth of the Sino-Tibetan languages to develop a writing system, after Chinese characters, the Pyu script, the Tibetan alphabet and the Tangut script.
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Wikipedia