Update:
2007-02-10 11:03 PM -0500
TIL
Romabama
Burmese Written Language in Roman Script
con03
U Kyaw Tun, M.S. (I.P.S.T., U.S.A.), Deep River, Ontario, Canada.
Not for sale. No copyright. Free for everyone. Prepared for
students of TIL Computing and Language Center, Yangon, MYANMAR .
Contents of this page
indx-rbm |
Top | Contents of this page
Romabama consonants
Triads
Pairs
Same sounding pairs
Problem pairs
Singles
UKT notes
Contents of this page
Burmese-Myanmar consonants, particularly in script form, have always been
important in the lives of peoples of Myanmar, because of the strong influence
Burmese Astrology, which plays a very important
role from the time of his birth to day
he dies. Dr. Htin Aung wrote in his Folk
Elements in Burmese Buddhism (Printed and published by the Religious Affairs
Dept., Rangoon, BURMA. 1981. The book is also available online
http://web.ukonline.co.uk/buddhism/ ) wrote on p.019-020: "A Chinese
chronicle of the ninth century, the Man-Shu, mentioned the presence in
Burma of 'many fortune tellers and astrologers'. The cult was, of course, Hindu
in origin, but whether it was superimposed on an existing native cult is a
matter for consideration." Dr. Htin Aung also wrote: "The letters of the Burmese
alphabet were divided up between the eight planets thus:
ka kha, ga, gha, nga} -- Monday
sa, hsa, za, zha, nya -- Tuesday
ta, hta, da, dha, na -- Saturday
pa, hpa, ba, bha, ma -- Thursday
la, wa -- Wednesday (Wednesday before noon)
ya, ra -- Rahu's day (Wednesday afternoon) -- See my notes on
Wednesday-planet
tha, ha -- Friday
a -- Sunday
[UKT: After reading my notes on Wednesday-planet,
you will get an idea of why {la.}, {wa.}, {ya.} and {ra.} corresponding to
English-Latin <l, w, y, r> (the approximants) are assigned to Wednesday.]
And on this division a person's name was chosen. Thus, the first name of a
Saturday-born would begin with one of the following letters:
ta, hta, da, dha, na
as, for example, 'Tin', 'Htin', 'Nan'. This custom of naming a person after
his birthday planet has now fallen into disuse, except in old-fashioned
families".
Thus, you can see that Dr. Htin Aung was born on a Saturday, and I (U
Kyaw Tun) on a Monday. We can make several observations based on Dr. Htin
Aung's work:
• The r2 consonants,
{sa.},
{hsa.}, and
{za.} are grouped together with
{Ña.},
and assigned to Tuesday-planet. If the r2 had been occupied by
{kya.},
{hkya.},
and 
{gya.}
(assigned to Monday-planet), it would bring in a very serious
contradiction in Burmese-astrology (which probably would cause havoc in a
person's life -- something no one would even think of). This point should be
considered by Pali-Latin scholars.
• {ya.} and {ra.} (assigned to Rahu) always have the same or similar pronunciation.
• {la.} and {wa.} (assigned to Wednesday-planet)
• {tha.} and {ha.} (assigned to Friday-planet). This suggests that r6c5
{tha.}
always has the pronunciation /θ, ð/ and not /s/.
A consonant-akshara character has the inherent vowel (usually /a/). And because
of it, the consonant-akshara can be pronounced. Thus
{ka.} can be pronounced, whereas <k>, a letter of the English-Latin alphabet, is
mute unless you supply it with a vowel such as /a/. Only then, can it be
pronounced as /ka/.
• akshara-consonants are grouped into "classifiables"
{wag} and non-classifiables"
{a.wag}. By classifiables, we mean those that can be classified as
"voiceless", "vl-aspirate", "voiced",
and "vd-retroflex". By "non-classifiables"
{a.wag}, we mean those that cannot be neatly classified. The non-classifiables
contain the semi-vowels and similar consonants except the vowel
{a.} /a/. In Sanskrit-Devanagari the position of
{a.} is occupied by
ํ
- 
{neig~ga.hait}.
• {ñ} Alt0241is represented in English-Latin as <ny>.
• Consonants in yellow-coloured cells are mainly used for writing Pali-Myanmar,
however since Pali words have been incorporated into Burmese, you are bound to
run into some of these characters in ordinary Burmese-Myanmar.
• c4 consonants in yellow-coloured cells have "retroflex" sounds, which to the
Burmese-Myanmar speakers are the "same" as c3 sounds. And if you are to take
only the c1s, c2s and c3s from the
{wag} groups, you will get what I have formerly termed the "triads". If you are
to pronounce the triads one by one you will notice that the POA moves from the
front of the mouth to the back.
• In Burmese-Myanmar, r2c2 is given as
{Ña.}
(
{Ña.kri:}) which has an alternative as
{ña.}
(
{ña.lé:}).
However, in Pali-Myanmar {ña.lé:},
{ña.}
is the proper character, and {Ña.kri:}
{Ña.}
is treated as the horizontal ligature of two
{ña.}.
{ña.} +
{ña.} -->
{Ña.}
= {ñña.}
• {ña.}
is misrepresented in Burmese-Myanmar typewritten text as vowel-letter
{U.}, which has a shorter "foot".
• 
{Hta.}
is the regular form of r3c2. It can be pronounced. However,
{THta.} is the horizontal conjunct of
{Ta.} and
{Hta.}. It is mute.
{Ta.} +
{Hta.} -->
{THta.} (mute).
It is found in the Pali-Myanmar word
{AoaT~Hta. Htaan}. It is a linguistic term meaning the "sound produced at the
POA lips" or bilabial sounds.
• Because, we are running out of ASCII characters to represent the /da/ sounds
(there are four), I have to use small and capital letters of Latin Eth:
{ða.} and
{Ða.}. However, since both
{tha.} and <th> have the sounds /θ/ as in <thin>
and /ð/ as in <that>, the use of {ða.} is objectionable.
• For formation of conjuncts,
{ða.}
is written in a prone (horizontal) position at a level lower than the base character. e.g.
{Nða.} (mute).
{ka.} + viram +
{Nða.} -->
{kaN~ða} (~ is inserted to help in pronunciation)
• For formation of conjuncts,
{na.}
undergoes a change in shape to
which we might refer to as "legless" {na.}.
• It is to be noted that labio-dentals are absent in both Burmese-Myanmar and
Pali-Myanmar. However, because of the necessity of transliteration between
Burmese-Myanmar and English-Latin, we would have to invent characters to
represent them. (Such inventions are common in Indian scripts.).
We proposed that <f> be represented as
{hpha.} and <v> as
{bha.}.
Please note that these two are medials. And, ordinarily, the inherent vowel of a
medial cannot be killed. However, we would have to make an exception in this
case. <v> is represented at the present as
{bwi}
in Myanmar.
Note: U Tun Tint, retired editor of MLC sees nothing
objectionable to the transliteration of <f> to
{hpha.}
and <v> to
{bha.},
since such medials are not present in traditional Burmese-Myanmar.
• During the formation of conjuncts or medials,
{ya.}
undergoes a change in shape to
.
• During the formation of conjuncts or medials
{ra.} undergoes a change in shape to
,
and
.
Back in the 1990s, when I finally give up my attempts to transcribe the
Burmese spoken language into English-Latin script (my first attempt was in the
late 1940s when I was still in my early teens using my father's English
typewriter) and came up with the idea of transliteration, the first thing that I
noticed was that the Romabama consonants can be classified into groups:
• triads - blue cells - POA moving from front of the mouth to back,
• pairs - green cells - similar sounds
• singles
Contents of this page
Keeping the array as it is, but omitting the Pali letters and the letters in
the last column and rows 6 and 7 brings out a prominent sub array - the
triads.
In comparing the Burmese-Myanmar to Hindi-Devanagari, we are comparing the
orthographic correspondence -- not the pronunciations. For all rows,
except r2, the pronunciations are also comparable.
In r2, the pronunciation correspondence is between Burmese-Myanmar
{kya.},
{hkya.},
{gya.},
and Hindi-Devanagari च [Ca], छ [Cha], ग [Ja].
The orthographic correspondence between Burmese-Myanmar (or Pali-Myanmar) and
Hindi-Devanagari has helped me to identify many plant species. See my other
field of study: Myanmar Medicinal Plant Database.
The most contrastive sound among the triads is between
{pa.} and
{ga.}. If we are to take the vowels into consideration, the most contrastive is between
{pi.} and
{gau:}.
Contents of this page
Pairs -- Nasals and Approximants
There are two vertical of pairs (nasals) and
a horizontal pair (approximants).
The nasal pair missing in English-Latin is r1c5-r2c5
{nga.-Ña.}. Though this pair is present in Devanagari, Burmese-Myanmar r1c5
{nga.}
is not correctly pronounced by most Hindi-Devanagari speakers
(those I came to associate with in Canada). With all native-English
speakers (those that I came across in Australia, Canada, and the US),
{nga.-Ña.} pair is the most difficult to pronounce.
The first member of
{nga.-Ña.} pair, is the velar-nasal /ŋ/.
In English-Latin syllables, /ŋ/
is never present in the onset, but only in the coda, e.g. <sing> /sɪŋ/. However,
{nga.}
is found in many Burmese-Myanmar onsets. It is also found in the codas as killed
consonants (represented as Ç in syllables of CVÇ form, where C is the consonant, V
the vowel and Ç the "killed" consonant). Usually the <g> in <ng>
corresponding to the Burmese-Myanmar
{nga.}
is not pronounced. However, you can never tell whether the <ng> in an
English-Latin word is /ŋ/ or not just from the spelling, e.g.:
<singer> /'sɪŋ.əʳ/ (US) /-ɚ/ (<g> is not pronounced, similar to
{sing:nga:}
<finger> /'fɪŋ.gəʳ/ (US) /-gɚ/ (<g> is pronounced, similar to
{sing:ga:})
The second member of this pair r2c5 is found in Spanish ñ (capital letter Ñ).
It is an alveolar-nasal. The Spanish insist that it is a consonant in its own right
and not n or N with a diacritic. See Palatal Nasal in TIL library,
Wiki section,
Nasalization.htm
The nasals are probably the most varied of all world phonemes.
The following is from:
http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node=nasal
Most languages have two nasals, m n. It is very rare for a language
to lack either or both of these, though some Salish languages of North-Western
America do. In Yoruba the consonant n occurs only before i, as
an allophone of l; though Yoruba also has nasal vowels, which are
written with a following letter N.
Less common than the near-universal bilabial m and dental or
alveolar n are nasals at other places of articulation. The palatal
nasal is written ñ in Spanish, gn in French and Italian,
nh in Portuguese, and ny in Hungarian and Catalan. Similar
NY-like sounds occur in Polish and Japanese.
The velar nasal is the NG sound of <sing>. In almost all dialects of
English this word ends in a nasal, with no consonant G after it, but
historically it came from a cluster N + G, with the G lost somewhere in the
Middle Ages. The NG is a single consonant sound: <sing> matches sin,
sill, sick, not sink, sinned, silt. It also occurs before K and the
K-like C, as in sink, uncle. Sometimes it occurs before an audible G,
as in <finger>, which has NGG as opposed to the simple NG of
singer. German has a similar kind of distribution, and a similar
phonetic history of this sound.
The NG sound also occurs in Italian, Spanish, Greek, Japanese, and
Hungarian, but not independently: it only occurs before the K and G sounds, as
in cinque, cinco. This assimilation is obligatory: San Carlo and
San Carlos are pronounced with sang, not san.
I have represented the Romabama velar-nasal r1c5 as {nga.} Formerly I had
represented it as {ñga.}. However, since this nasal is represented by most
writers as ng, you are at liberty to make your choice.
The choice between {ñg} and {ng} becomes moot when this Burmese-Myanmar
consonant is used as a "killed" consonant. There
is the possibility that <g> might be lost in the hands of careless people
and the {ñg} became {ñ}. However, this would be of no problem in many cases,
and even became desirable in some:
The wrong spelling for "sour" (taste) is
{hkying}
{hkying} -->loosing <g> --> {hkyin}.
Since {n} is the killed {na.}
,
the pronunciation becomes
{hkyan}.
{hkyiñg} --> loosing <g> --> {hkyiñ}
{hkyiñ} is the right spelling for "sour" (taste).
It is important to remember that Burmese-Myanmar syllables end in vowels, and
even if there appears to be consonant it is a killed consonant (shown underlined
in the following examples) with no sound of its own.
{ka. nga.thut} in:
{king} -- (v. to roast)
{sa. nga.thut} in:
{sing} -- (n. rack or shelf}
{hsa.nga.thut} in:
{hsing} -- (n. elephant)
{ka. na.thut} in:
{kan} -- (v. to kick, n. pond)
{ka. tis.hkyaung:nging na.thut} in:
{koan} -- (n. commercial goods)
{ka. ma.thut wut~sa.pauk} in:
{kam:} -- {n. water-edge}
Generically,
{ka. nga.thut}
{king} (v. to roast), should be spelled {kang}.
However because of the peculiarity of the English vowel system,
the word has been spelled {king} (with a silent g)
to differentiate it from
{ka. na.thut}
{kan} (v. to kick, n. pond).
It is to be noted that
{ka. na.thut}
{kan} (v. to kick, n. pond) has a
homonym word
{kän} (n. "fortune" as in "good fortune").
Contents of this page
Some of the Pali-Myanmar characters are rarely used in everyday
Burmese-Myanmar. However, some are routinely used, e.g.:
{a·hkan: kaN~ða.} , a compound of two words for preciseness:
• 
{a·hkan:} -- (Burmese-Myanmar) n. 1. compartment; room; apartment.
2. chapter (of a book); scene of part in a drama or film. 3. role.
4. segment of a monk's robe which is patched together from several pieces
pieces as prescribed. -- MEDict545
•
{kaN~ða.} -- (Pali-Myanmar) n. section -- MEDict018
Some scholars in Myanmar opine that Myanmars have lost their ability to
pronounce "Pali" correctly, and Myanmar monks learning Pali have to take note of
that when they are reciting Pali texts. (Verbal communication with Rev. U Kawwida of Toronto
Myanmar Buddhist monastery.). To those scholars, the "Pali" spoken in
Sri Lanka and in modern India (under heavy influence of Sanskrit) are more authentic,
whereas, Pali-Myanmar pronunciations are less so. They fail to recognise that Pali
(the western dialect) and Magadi (the eastern dialect) were dialects of a local language spoken by ordinary people -- not the Brahmin-scholars who
were perfecting Sanskrit. They fail to recognise that Buddha and Asoka were not
Brahmins, and Buddha would be speaking in local lingo and not like a Brahmin.
I must insist that the local lingo was a Tibeto-Burman language,
one of which is Burmese-Myanmar.
See the
Language problem of
primitive Buddhism by Chi Hisen-lin, Journal of the Burma Research Society
(JBRS), XLIII, i, June 1960 (in TIL library).
The language problem appeared even during the life-time of Buddha,
who responded:
-- Cullavagga,
V. 33. 1
The Pali-Latin transcription of the above word of the Buddha is:
" anujānāmi bhikkhave sakāya niruttiyā buddhavacanam pariyāpunitum
"
Continue reading on this subject in
Magadi,
Myanmar, Pali, Sanskrit in my notes.
In the following matrix, akshara-characters with the same sound are shown in
coloured cells -- side by side or one above the other. (Please note that c4
consonants are retroflex, and many -- I am one of them -- cannot pronounce them
properly. That is the opinion held by Sanskrit-biased peers of mine.)
The first thing a Myanmar male about to enter the Theravada-Buddhist order --
all Myanmar Buddhist males have to become full-fledged monks at
least for a few days -- is told is to pronounce
{Ga.} correctly. I am speaking from personal experience:
pronounce "
{thän-Gau:}" with zest and force something like foot-stamping.
In Devanagari names for c4s, there is an "h" to emphasize the difference
from c3s. And, Rev. U Kawwida pointed out that "h"-sound is present in {Ga.}.
However the two members of each pair is pronounced exactly the same by ordinary
Myanmars. Soon after leaving the religious order, we lapse into our old habit and:
pronounce
{thän-Gau:} as
{thän-gau:}.
The
{ya.}-
{ra.} pair is noteworthy. Though they different sounds, Myanmars
in the central region (Irrawaddy and Salween river-basins) have lost their
ability (or are too lazy) to "roll" the r and pronounce it as y.
Thus, though Yangon (English spelling based on pronunciation) is spelled
{ran-koan} (with an r) it is pronounced as if the first consonant is
y. However, Myanmars of the Arakan (Yakhine) coast in western Myanmar do pronounce the
{ra.} correctly.
UKT:
According to Dr. Htin Aung's (see above in Romabama consonants),
{ya.} and {ra.} has been noted as Rahu's day (Wednesday afternoon). Since in
Burmese astrology, pronunciation seems to be more important than spelling, it is
probable that {ra.} has always been pronounced as {ya.}, or {ya.} with an "r"
colouring. This means that Myanmars have not lost their ability to "roll"
the r , but have never roll it .
UKT:
Let me cite
Chi Hisen-lin (refer to my notes Magadhi,
Myanmar, Pali and Sanskrit). He wrote: "... most of the scholars advocated that the
Pali language was a Western dialect, ... But on the other hand, the Magadha language
was an eastern dialect, ... There is a vast difference between the two languages and they
should by no means be confused with each other." Burma being close to
Magadha, Burmese should be closer to Magadhi than to Pali. Since, the Buddha had
spoken the local lingo of Magadha, it is highly probable that Burmese-Myanmar pronunciation
is closer to that
of the Buddha, and Asoka.
In formulating Romabama, I have followed the written script rather than the
pronunciation. I was accused of being partial to a single group of
Burmese-Myanmar speakers, but after coming across the story of "shibboleth",
I have to follow the script rather than the pronunciation.
Romabama is based on written Burmese-Myanmar script and NOT on
pronunciation.
Please note that the Myanmar Buddhist monks are required to pronounce the
r distinctly when reciting religious texts.
Contents of this page
/f, v/
Labio-dental fricatives <f - v> /f - v/
(Table of English consonants)
present in English-Latin are absent in Burmese-Myanmar. The POA of this pair is
between that of <p - b> /p - b/ and <th> /θ - ð/.
<p> in <pat> /pæt/ -- comparable to
{pak}
<b> in <bat> /bæt> -- comparable to
{bak}
<f> in <fat> /fæt/
<v> in <vat> /væt/
<th> in <thin> /θɪn/ -- comparable to
{thin:}
- /θ/ is similar to that of
{tha.} in
{ma·tha} meaning "funeral"
<th> in <that> /ðæt/
- /ð/ is similar to that of
{tha.} in pronunciation
{na·tha} of word
{nän.tha} meaning "sandal wood".
It might be appropriate to emphasize here that the consonants listed in the
Table of
English Consonants are in phonetic characters. Three pairs of
characters not present in the regular English alphabet:
/θ ð/, /ʃ ʒ/, /ʧ ʤ/ are listed in it.
Contents of this page
/θ, ð/
You have already seen that in the English words <
thin> and <that> the <th> has different sounds.
Phonetically, the <th> is represented as /θ/ in
<thin>, and as /ð/ in <that>. We have already seen a similar
situation in Burmese-Myanmar r6c5
{tha.}. I will illustrate this with a personal
story. One of my parents' friends was a lady with a beautiful Burmese-Myanmar name.
Because she was born on a very pleasant day, she was given the name Miss
Pleasant. A pleasant day in Burmese-Myanmar is
{tha-ya-thau né.}. Because she was born on a pleasant day, she was named "Ma Tha".
("Ma" is the equivalent of Miss or Ms, and "Tha" stands for
{tha-ya}. I was still a child learning to read and write Burmese-Myanmar
and when a letter came from "Ma Tha", I read the sender's name as /mə.θa/
which means "funeral " or "dead person". I should have read /'ma.ða/ .
(Note: /.../ stands for IPA transcription and {...} stands for Romabama
transliterations. ð in IPA is different from that of Romabama.)
Contents of this page
/ʃ, ʒ/
The English phoneme /ʃ/ is found in the English word
<ship>, and ʒ in <measure> .
In Burmese-Myanmar, /ʃ/ is represented as a conjoined consonant
{ra.kauk ha.hto:}
{rha.}. It is derived from two consonants
{ra.} and 
{ha.}. /ʃ/ can also be represented by another conjoined character
{thhya.}.
There is no equivalent for /ʒ/ in Burmese-Myanmar.
Contents of this page
/ʧ, ʤ/
These two phonemes are unnecessarily confusing to Myanmars.
The English phoneme /ʧ/ is found in the English-Latin
<chin>. The sound of Burmese-Myanmar medial
{hkya.}
is approximately equivalent to /ʧ/. This is
because English <k> is not exactly like the Burmese-Myanmar
{ka.} but closer to
{hka.}
in pronunciation. However, by tradition
{ka.} is always represented by <k>. If only this tradition had been followed in
the case of /ʧ/, it would have been represented by
{kya.}.
The English phoneme /ʤ/ is found in the
English word <gin>. The Burmese-Myanmar equivalent is the medial
{gya.}.
Contents of this page
The "non-classifiables"
{a.wag} consonants are found in rows 6 and 7. They, with the probable exception
of
{ya.} and
{ra.}, are best described individually. They are what I have termed the
"singles". (refer to
Table of English Consonants.):
approximants:
{ya.} /j/,
{ra.}
/r/ (sometimes described as /ɹ/),
{la.}
/l/, 
{wa.} /w/ (sometimes described as /v/)
dental-fricative:
{tha.}
/θ ð/. Though
{tha.} has been
described as a sibilant
because its exact position is occupied by a sibilant in Pali-Devanagari, both
Burmese-Myanmar and Pali-Myanmar
{tha.}
has no sibilant sounds.
aspirate:
{ha.}
/h/
inherent vowel:
{a.}
/a/, /æ/ or /ə/ -- present as part of a consonant.
It is instructive to see how these consonants (or their corresponding
consonants in Sinhala-Pali) are described by Ven. Narada Thera in An
Elementary Pali Course, Buddha Dhamma Association, Inc. (Sri Lanka)
http://www.buddhanet.net/.
Below is a pix captured from the original pdf text.
Here are my comments (with my deep respect to the learned monk, from whose
work I have learnt just a "grain of sand" of Pali. My regret:
I am unfortunate not to have the opportunity to learn "at his feet"):
Ven. Narada Thera's
description |
Sinhala
-Pali |
Pali-Myamar
as Romabama |
UKT'sComments |
| * Palatal |
[y] |
{ya.} |
|
| *Cerebral |
[r] |
{ra.} |
|
| *Dental |
[l] |
{la.} |
Burmese-Myanmar
{la.} is not dental, but alveolar |
| *Dental and Labial |
[v] |
{wa.} |
Burmese-Myanmar has no [v]. Proposed extending Myanmar akshara by adding
{bha.} to approximate <v> and [v]. |
| Dental (sibilant) |
[s] |
{tha.} |
Pali-Latin [s] corresponds to Burmese-Myanmar
{tha.} which is not sibilant.
{tha.}is the same as <th> in English <thin> /θɪn/ and
<that> /ðæt/. |
| Aspirate |
[h] |
{ha.} |
Unlike the English-Latin <h>, which is sometimes silent,
Burmese-Myanmar
{ha.} and Pali-Myanmar
{ha.} are never silent. |
| Cerebral |
[ ḷ ] |
{La.} |
Compare spelling of (Pali-Latin) Pāḷi and (Pali-Myanmar)
{pa-Li.}. |
| Niggahita |
[ṃ] |
{än} |
Vow-sign
{thé:thé:ting}. It does not have any colouring of <n> or <m>, and
representing it with [ṅ] , [ṃ] , or {n°} is misleading. |
| Semi-vowels
indicated by * |
|
|
Of rows 6 and 7 Burmese-Myanmar akshara-characters, only 4
(three of which are semi-vowels) are allowed to form medial
conjuncts which are pronounceable.
These are: are
{ya.} /j/,
{ra.} /r/ or /ɹ/,
{wa.} /w/ ,
{ha.} /h/. These can be conjoined to a consonant from both the
{wag}-group and
{a.wag} group, e.g.:
{wag}-group
{ka.} /k/ +
{ya.} -->
{kya.} /kja/ (pronounceable)
{a.wag}-group
{ya.} +
{ya.} -->
{yya.} (pronounceable)
Orthographically, other conjuncts may be formed, but they are mute.
Phonetically the English /l/ (U006C) has two kinds of sounds in English:
clear L and dark L.
We take note that /l/ is an alveolar lateral
approximant. That is, when /l/ is pronounced, the tongue tip is touching
the alveolar ridge (just behind the upper teeth) and the air escapes past the
sides of the tongue. Clear L is found (in English words) normally only before
vowels, e.g. <pill> (phonemic /pɪl/).
[
{la.thut}]. Dark L sound is typically found when /l/
occurs before a consonant or before a pause, e.g.: <help> phonemic /help/
[
{la.thut} + 
{pa. thut}]. A similar distinction is not found in the Burmese-Myanmar
{la.}.
In several accents of English, particularly those close to London, the dark L
has given way to a [w] sound, so that <help> and <hill> might be transcribed /hewp/
and /hɪw/; this process is known as 'L vocalization'. See DJPD16
information panel on dark L.
UKT:
According to Dr. Htin Aung (see above in Romabama consonants),
{la.} and {wa.} has been assigned to Wednesday (before noon). Why? Is there a
process similar to 'L vocalization' ?
It will come as a surprise to most Myanmar to know that the
{wa.} sound is not present in some languages such as Hindi-Devanagari.
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Burmese-Myanmar
aksharas and Burmese astrology
The letters of the Burmese alphabet were divided up
between the eight planets thus:
ka kha, ga, gha, nga} -- Monday
sa, hsa, za, zha, nya -- Tuesday
ta, hta, da, dha, na -- Saturday
pa, hpa, ba, bha, ma -- Thursday
la, wa -- Wednesday (Wednesday before noon)
ya, ra -- Rahu's day (Wednesday afternoon)
tha, ha -- Friday
a -- Sunday
and on this division a person's name was chosen.
Thus, the first name of a Saturday-born would begin
with one of the following letters:
ta, hta, da, dha, na
as, for example, 'Tin', 'Htin', 'Nan'. This custom of naming a person after
his birthday planet has now fallen into disuse, except in old-fashioned
families.
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Dark-L and Light-L
"Some phoneticians speak of the dark and light variants of /l/.
What they call light /l/ might also be termed pre-vocalic /l/; while dark /l/
is post-vocalic. In cases of intervocalic /l/, the
liquid will tend to group either with the preceding syllable, in which case it
is dark, or with the following syllable, in which case it is light. But there
are many cases where the distinction is not so clear, and we get elements of
both, leading to the nice diamond or O shape between F2 and F3 which is an easy
marker for /l/."
The following is from Structure of Spoken Language, The Approximants,
http://cslu.cse.ogi.edu/tutordemos/SpectrogramReading/
Follow the link to
The Approximants in TIL archives.
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The God of the Wednesday-planet
-- by UKT (the illustration is from Facets
of Life at Shwedagon Pagoda in Colorful Myanmar by Daw Khin Myo
Chit):
There are only 7 days in a week. And therefore only 7 gods are needed to rule
the days. But in Burmese astrology, we need to indicate the 8 directions of the
compass, ruled by the same gods. Therefore, one day would have to be ruled by
two gods. That day is Wednesday. Wednesday before noon is ruled by the god of
the Wednesday-planet, and Wednesday after noon is ruled by the god Rahu.
Now Wednesday-god is mild mannered, and when certain periods of
your life fall under his rule, you would be lucky. However, Rahu is an angry
god, and when in other periods of life, you fall under his influence, you would
be unlucky. It is noteworthy that both gods ride elephants. Wednesday's elephant
has tusks, and it can be used for good causes -- like moving heavy logs.
However, Rahu's elephant is the tusk-less one. It is stronger than the one with
tusk, but it is the angry one and is not useful. I sometimes wonder if the
two gods are really one. In the morning he is good, but past noon he became sour.
If you would like to curry favor with the gods you would have to
offer them with flowers and fruits. Of course, these items have their
Burmese-Myanmar names beginning with a particular consonant. If you would like
to offer things to the Wednesday-god, choose items with names beginning with
{la.} and {wa.}. If it is Rahu, the offertories must have names beginning with {ya.}
and {ra.}.
Now, lets see what the Greeks and Romans thought about the god of
the planet Mercury. He is Hermes to the Greek and Mercury to the Romans. He is
male but a hermaphrodite :
Hermes n. Greek Mythology 1. The god of commerce,
invention, cunning, and theft, who also served as messenger, scribe, and
herald for the other gods. -- AHTD
Mercury n. 1. Roman Mythology A god that served as
messenger to the other gods and was himself the god of commerce, travel, and
thievery. 2. The smallest of the planets and the one nearest the sun,
having a sidereal period of revolution about the sun of 88.0 days at a mean
distance of 58.3 million kilometers (36.2 million miles) and a mean radius of
approximately 2,414 kilometers (1,500 miles). [Middle English Mercurie
from Old French from Latin Mercurius] -- AHTD
mercury n. 1. Symbol Hg A silvery-white
poisonous metallic element, liquid at room temperature and used in
thermometers, barometers, vapor lamps, and batteries and in the preparation of
chemical pesticides. Atomic number 80; atomic weight 200.59; melting point -
38.87°C; boiling point 356.58 °C; specific gravity 13.546 (at 20 °C); valence
1, 2. Also Called quicksilver . See note at element . 2. Temperature:
The mercury had fallen rapidly by morning. 3. Any of several
weedy plants of the genera Mercurialis or Acalypha. [Middle
English mercurie from Medieval Latin mercurius from Latin
Mercurius Mercury] -- AHTD
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homonym
n. 1. One of two or more words that have the same sound and
often the same spelling but differ in meaning. -- AHTD
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Magadhi, Myanmar, Pali, and Sanskrit
See the Language problem of
primitive Buddhism by Chi Hisen-lin, Journal of the Burma Research Society
(JBRS), XLIII, i, June 1960 (in TIL library).
The language problem appeared even during the life-time of Buddha, who responded:
meaning: "I permit you, O Monks, to learn the word of the Buddha in his own language."
-- Buddha.
The episode is mentioned in Viniya Pitika, Cullavagga, V. 33. 1. Buddha's words
were in response to a request by two monks who were born into a Brahmin family:
"Bhante, now the Bhikkhus with different family names and personal names, of
different social ranks and families, have come to join the Order. With their own
vernaculars they have marred the Buddha's words. Please permit us to express the
Buddha's words in Sanskrit."
Buddha: "Bhikkhus, you are not allowed to express the Buddha's words in
Sanskrit. Those who act contrarily will be considered as having committed the offence of Dukkata
{doak~ka.Ta.}."
Chi Hisen-lin wrote: "Although the above-mentioned views vary from one another, there is a
comparatively concordant point, that is, most of the scholars advocated that the
Pali language was a Western dialect, and such was truly the fact. The declensions
of the Pali words are similar to those of the language used in the Girnar
Inscriptions of the Asokan Pillars, such as the locative case ending in-amhi and
-e, the accusative case in -ne, etc. But on the other hand, the Magadha language
was an eastern dialect, in which r had become as l, and s as
ś, while the nominative case of words ending in -a,
ended in -e, etc. There is a vast difference between the two languages and they
should by no means be confused with each other."
Burma (i.e. Upper Burma) being close to Magadha, I am of holding the view that
Burmese-Myanmar pronunciations are more likely to be closer to the
pronunciations used by Lord Buddha himself.
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maga-myan-pali-sanskrit-b
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shibboleth
n. 1. A word or pronunciation that distinguishes people of one
group or class from those of another. 2. a. A word or phrase identified
with a particular group or cause; a catchword. b. A commonplace saying or
idea. 3. A custom or practice that betrays one as an outsider.
[Ultimately from Hebrew šibbōlet torrent of water, from the use of
this word to distinguish one tribe from another, who pronounced it
sibbōleth (Judges 12:4-6)] -- AHTD
UKT: In the Bible story, thousands of people
lost their lives in a single day because of their inability
to pronounce a single word "correctly".
After coming across that story, I hold firmly that
spoken language divides people, whereas the written script unites.
I have but one wish in formulating Romabama as an old man: may the peoples
of Myanmar remain united forever, and I firmly hold that the Myanmar script
is the instrument to bring that about.
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sibilant
Linguistics adj. 1. Of, characterized by,
or producing a hissing sound like that of (s) or (sh):
the sibilant consonants; a sibilant bird call. n.
1. A sibilant speech sound, such as English
(s), (sh), (z), or (zh). -- AHTD.
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