Update: 2014-10-26 03:54 PM +0630

TIL

Botanical Names of Myanmar Plants
of Importance

Names of Plants in Burmese-Myanmar akshara

indx-Agri2000

(Agri.dept.2000), an Index in order of Burmese names in Myanmar akshara, by Agricultural Department (Planning), Government of Union of Myanmar, 2000, pp 65.
Set in HTML by U Kyaw Tun (UKT), and staff of TIL for staff and students of TIL. Not for sale. No copyright. Free for everyone. Prepared for students and staff of TIL  Computing and Language Center, Yangon, MYANMAR :  http://www.tuninst.net , http://www.softguide.net.mm , www.romabama.blogspot.com

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Caution -- The botanical names given by Myanmar authors, particularly the indigenous medical practitioners, should be taken with caution. There are cases, where various Myanmar authors gave different names primarily due to the lack of standardisation of the Bur-Myan spellings. Moreover, all Myanmar authors are not very careful about their Myanmar spellings. Similarly the English common names given by them should be taken only as guides because of the lack coordination amongst them. To overcome this drawback in part, I have given the Bur-Myan spellings based on MLC (Myanmar Language Commission) dictionaries using Romabama. The entries listed on the right are given in Bur-Myan name, Scientific name (Genus-Species), and Family name. You can check these with entries from Chklist:
-- Genus-Species.htm / Family.htm

-row • {ka.}{hka.}{ga.} • {Ga.} • {nga.}
-row  • {sa.}{hsa.}{za.} • {Za.} • {Ña.}
-row  • {Ta.} • {HTa.} • {ða.} • {Ða.} • {Na.}
-row • {ta.}{hta.}{da.}{Da.}{na.}
-row  • {pa.}{hpa.}{ba.}{Ba.}{ma.}
-row • {ya.}{ra.}{la.}{wa.}{þa.}
-row • ------ • {ha.}{La.}{a.} • ------

Note the : {king:si:} spelling:
{þing~Bau:} -->  {thïn:~Bau:} 'ship' implying "imported species".

UKT notes
Doggie's Tale - copy-paste
Romabama: transliteration changed to transcription

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UKT notes

Doggie's Tale

Mnemonic The Doggie Tale: 
Little doggie cringe in fear -- ŋ (velar),
  Seeing Ella's flapping ears -- ɲ (palatal)
  And, the Shepard's hanging rear -- ɳ (retroflex).
Doggie so sad he can't get it out
  What's that Kasha क्ष when there's a Kha ख ?
  And when there's Jana ज्ञ what I am to do with Jha झ?

Note to digitizer: you can copy and paste the following:
Ā ā Ē ē Ī ī Ō ō Ū ū
Ḍ ḍ Ḥ ḥ Ḷ ḷ Ḹ ḹ Ṁ ṁ Ṃ ṃ Ṅ ṅ Ñ ñ Ṇ ṇ Ṛ ṛ Ṝ ṝ Ś ś Ṣ ṣ Ṭ ṭ ɕ ʂ
• Instead of Skt-Dev ः {wic~sa.} use "colon" :
• Root sign √
• Skt-Deva : श ś [ɕ] /ʃ/; ष ṣ [ʂ] /s/; स s [s] /θ/;
• Undertie in Dev transcription: ‿ U203F
• IPA symbols: ə ɛ ɪ ʌ ʊ ʧ ʤ θ ŋ ɲ ɳ ɹ ʔ

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Romabama : transliteration changed to transcription

-- UKT 121217

• English written in basic Latin script is a non-phonetic language and to relate the spoken language to script, you have to rely on IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet). Whereas, Burmese written in Myanmar script is a phonetic language, and can be easily (theoretically), changed into IPA, and then over to English. The unreliability of an English transcription in Myanmarpré is NOT the fault of the Bur-Myan language, but is due to the English, its phonology, and the limited nature of its alphabet. Moreover there are two main pronunciation systems to contend with: the RP (Received Pronunciation aka the British pronunciation), and, GA (General American). Bur-Myan is an abugida, NOT an alphabet, and there are more characters or glyphs in it.

• Bur-Myan is a non-rhotic language, and the "r" is rarely pronounced. When it occurs as the first consonant in a Romabama syllable, pronounce it as an English "y". In English RP, "r" is only slightly rhotic, whereas in GA it is more rhotic.

• Similar to the French, the end consonant in a Romabama syllable is not generally pronounced. This is in keeping with the Irrawaddy-valley accent of Bur-Myan. The MLC (Myanmar Language Commission) in keeping with this accent transcribes the syllable endings with a glottal stop / ' /. Remember in IPA the glottal stop is /ʔ/ (a question mark without the dot).

• Romabama consonant-akshara r6c1 {ya.} stands for regular akshara with the inherent vowel a . Unlike the English where <y> is a semivowel with IPA transcription /j/, {ya.} is a full consonant albeit an approximant. The killed-consonant {ya.þût} is written as ý (Alt+0253).

• When you are writing Romabama always bear in mind that the diacritical marks may be lost.

• I have changed Romabama from a transliteration into transcription. The principal task in this change is to change the elusive inherent vowel  a  in Myanmar akshara {ak~hka.ra}. When in doubt, I had adopted the policy of leaving  a  as it is. Thus {kap} NOT {kup}, and {kyap} NOT {kyûp}.

• I have now dropped that policy, and have changed a  taking note of the phonology of Burmese as well as English. I am now more comfortable in giving IPA transcriptions: formerly I had felt like the little TIL mascot with his tale of woe. See Doggie's Tale. I am now more confident. But, old transliterations still might remain because of oversight. Examples of change follows.

• For modal {kya.} /kja/, and the killed consonant which is used to check the  a  of {kya.} /kja/:
  ¤ {ng} a is changed to i : {kying} /kjɪŋ/
  ¤ {Ñ} a is changed to æ : {kyæÑ} /kjæɲ/
  ¤ {ñ} a is changed to i : {kyiñ} /kjɪɲ/
  ¤ {n} a is changed to û : {kyûn} /kjʌn/
  ¤ {y} a is change to è : as {kèý} /kjɛ/

• For close vowels of the same modal {kya.} /kja/ -- {kyi.} /kji/ & {kyu.} /kju/, the problem is to check  i  &  u . However, Bur-Myan phonology would ONLY allow some to be checked. 
  ¤ {n} checking  i  to  ai  : {kyain} 'to curse' - MED2006-035
  ¤ {n} checking  u  - not allowed. Only indefinite nasalization allowed: {kyoän} - MED2006-036

• From {ka.} the vowel change can be one step only as in {ki.} or in {ku.}. However there can be two steps -- {ko} resulting in a compound vowel which are usually mistaken for diphthongs. Bur-Myan has no diphthongs, and these compound vowels are monophthongs. Note that both {ki.} & {ku.} are creaks -- i.e. extremely short vowels. In becoming the compound {ko}, the vowel is lengthened to a modal. Checking the i , u , o with killed consonants are more complex.
¤ {kain} -- MED2006-020
¤ {keing} 'to hold' -- MED2006-017
-- From the above note the use of <ai> and <ei>. Romabama spelling and MLC spelling are opposite of each other. Speaking for Romabama, I feel that the vowel in {kain} is more open than in {keing}, and since the English <a> is more open than <e>, I have according set the Romabama vowels. I cannot and should not speak for MLC.

• Please note that, since the Second World War, acronyms such as {lèý-seik-rhing:} (LSR) has been incorporated into Bur-Myan script. {lèý,seik,rhing:} stands for Agricultural Corporation.

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