There are approximately a hundred languages spoken in

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...

(also known as Burma).

, spoken by two-thirds of the population, is the

official language An official language is a language given supreme status in a particular country, state, or other jurisdiction. Typically the term "official language" does not refer to the language used by a people or country, but by its government (e.g. judiciary, ...

. Languages spoken by ethnic minorities represent six

language families A language family is a group of languages related through descent from a common ''ancestral language'' or ''parental language'', called the proto-language of that family. The term "family" reflects the tree model of language origination in hi ...

Sino-Tibetan Sino-Tibetan, also cited as Trans-Himalayan in a few sources, is a family of more than 400 languages, second only to Indo-European in number of native speakers. The vast majority of these are the 1.3 billion native speakers of Chinese languages. ...

Austro-Asiatic The Austroasiatic languages , , are a large language family in Mainland Southeast Asia and South Asia. These languages are scattered throughout parts of Thailand, Laos, India, Myanmar, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Nepal, and southern China and are t ...

, Tai–Kadai,

Indo-European The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Dutch ...

, Austronesian and Hmong–Mien, as well as an incipient national standard for Burmese sign language.

Burmese

Burmese is the

native language A first language, native tongue, native language, mother tongue or L1 is the first language or dialect that a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period. In some countries, the term ''native language'' or ''mother tongu ...

of the

Bamar people The Bamar (, ; also known as the Burmans) are a Sino-Tibetan languages, Sino-Tibetan ethnic group native to Myanmar (formerly Burma) in Southeast Asia. With approximately 35 million people, the Bamar make up the largest ethnic group in Myanmar ...

and related sub-ethnic groups of the Bamar, as well as that of some ethnic minorities in Burma like the Mon. In 2007, Burmese was spoken by 33 million people as a first language.Mikael Parkvall, "Världens 100 största språk 2007" (The World's 100 Largest Languages in 2007), in ''

Nationalencyklopedin ''Nationalencyklopedin'' (; "The National Encyclopedia" in English), abbreviated NE, is a comprehensive contemporary Swedish-language encyclopedia, initiated by a favourable loan from the Government of Sweden of 17 million Swedish kronor in 19 ...

'' Burmese is spoken as a second language by another 10 million people, particularly ethnic minorities in Burma and those in neighbouring countries. Burmese is a

Sino-Tibetan language Sino-Tibetan, also cited as Trans-Himalayan in a few sources, is a family of more than 400 languages, second only to Indo-European in number of native speakers. The vast majority of these are the 1.3 billion native speakers of Chinese languages. ...

belonging to the Southern Burmish branch of the

Tibeto-Burman languages The Tibeto-Burman languages are the non-Sinitic members of the Sino-Tibetan language family, over 400 of which are spoken throughout the Southeast Asian Massif ("Zomia") as well as parts of East Asia and South Asia. Around 60 million people speak ...

. Burmese is the most widely spoken of the Tibeto-Burman languages and among the Sino-Tibetan languages, the second most widely spoken, after the

Sinitic language The Sinitic languages (漢語族/汉语族), often synonymous with "Chinese languages", are a group of East Asian analytic languages that constitute the major branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family. It is frequently proposed that there is ...

s. Burmese was the fourth of the Sino-Tibetan languages to develop a writing system, after

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

Tibetan Tibetan may mean: * of, from, or related to Tibet * Tibetan people, an ethnic group * Tibetan language: ** Classical Tibetan, the classical language used also as a contemporary written standard ** Standard Tibetan, the most widely used spoken dial ...

, and Tangut. As far as

natural language processing Natural language processing (NLP) is an interdisciplinary subfield of linguistics, computer science, and artificial intelligence concerned with the interactions between computers and human language, in particular how to program computers to pro ...

research dealing with interaction of computers and Burmese human-spoken language is concerned, during the period spanning more than 25 years, from 1990 to 2016, notable work has been done and annotated in the areas of Burmese language word identification, segmentation, disambiguation, collation,

semantic parsing Semantic parsing is the task of converting a natural language utterance to a logical form: a machine-understandable representation of its meaning. Semantic parsing can thus be understood as extracting the precise meaning of an utterance. Application ...

and tokenization followed by part-of-speech tagging, machine translation systems , text keying/input, text recognition and text display methods. The scope for further research too has been explored for areas of

parallel corpus A parallel text is a text placed alongside its translation or translations. Parallel text alignment is the identification of the corresponding sentences in both halves of the parallel text. The Loeb Classical Library and the Clay Sanskrit Libr ...

development as well as development of search engine and

WordNet WordNet is a lexical database of semantic relations between words in more than 200 languages. WordNet links words into semantic relations including synonyms, hyponyms, and meronyms. The synonyms are grouped into '' synsets'' with short definition ...

for the Burmese language.

Indigenous languages

Aside from Myanmar (Burmese) and its dialects, the hundred or so languages of Myanmar include Shan (Tai, spoken by 3.2 million),

Karen languages The Karen () or Karenic languages are tonal languages spoken by some seven million Karen people. They are of unclear affiliation within the Sino-Tibetan languages. The Karen languages are written using the Karen script. The three main branches ...

(spoken by 2.6 million), Kachin (spoken by 900,000),

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...

(spoken by 1.1 Million), various

Chin languages The Kuki-Chin languages (also called Kuki-Chin-Mizo, Kukish or South-Central Tibeto-Burman languages) are a branch of 50 or so Sino-Tibetan languages spoken in northeastern India, western Myanmar and southeastern Bangladesh. Most speakers of the ...

(spoken by 780,000), and Mon (Mon–Khmer, spoken by 750,000). Most of these languages use the Myanmar (Burmese) script. In Myanmar, usage of its minority languages is discouraged. It is not clear if there are one or two Burmese sign languages.

Sino-Tibetan

*Languages in Chin State ** Anu-Hkongso ** Shö ** Bawm ** Daai ** Khumi **

Falam Falam (, ) is a town in north-western Burma (Myanmar) near Burma's western border with the Indian state of Mizoram. The town was founded by Taisun tribe. The British arrived to Falam in 1892, and became an important base for British rule of the ...

** Hakha Chin ** Kaang ** Laitu ** Lautu ** Mara **

Matu The Matu District is a district in Mukah Division, Sarawak, Malaysia. Before Mukah Division was established, Matu was within Sibu Division. There are more than 20 villages in the district, with Melanau Melanau or ''A-Likou'' (meaning River ...

** Mizo ** Mün ** Ngawn ** Welaung **

Rungtu Rungtu (Rungtu Chin), also known as Taungtha ( my, တောင်သားဘာသာစကား) is a moribund Kuki-Chin language of Burma spoken by the Taungtha people. It is spoken in 35 villages in Htilin, Kyaukhtu, and Saw townships, Mag ...

** Senthang ** Sizang ** Songlai ** Sumtu ** Tawr **

Tedim Tedim (, , ( Zo: ''Tedim Khawpi'', pronounced ; is a town in and the administrative seat of Tedim Township, Chin State, in the north-western part of Burma. It is the second largest town in Chin State. The town's four major boroughs (''vengte'') a ...

** Thadou ** Thaiphum ** Zotung ** Zyphe *Other ** Akeu ** Akha **

Anal Anal may refer to: Related to the anus *Related to the anus of animals: ** Anal fin, in fish anatomy ** Anal vein, in insect anatomy ** Anal scale, in reptile anatomy *Related to the human anus: ** Anal sex, a type of sexual activity involvin ...

** Nung ** Sak **

Derung The Derung (also spelt ''Drung'' or ''Dulong'') people (; endonym: ) are an ethnic group. They form one of the List of ethnic groups in China, 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by China. Their population of 6,000 is found in the Nujiang Li ...

Hpon Hpon ( my, ဖွန်းဘာသာ; also spelled Hpun) was a moribund Burmish language spoken by older adults in the gorges of the upper Irrawaddy River of Burma, north of Bhamo Bhamo ( my, ဗန်းမော်မြို့ ''ban: ...

Kadu KADU (90.1 FM broadcasting, FM) is a radio station licensed to Hibbing, Minnesota, United States. The station is owned by Heartland Christian Broadcasters, Inc. Translators In addition to the main station, KADU is relayed by an additional trans ...

** Ganan ** Kayaw **

Red Karen Red Karen may refer to: * Karenni language * Karenni people * Karenni States The Karenni States, also known as Red Karen States, was the name formerly given to the states inhabited mainly by the Red Karen, in the area of present-day Kayah ...

** Padaung ** Kayaw **

Lashi Lashi ( my, လရှီ, endonym ''Lacid'') is a Burmish language. Although the endonym Lashi is often used by Western researchers, the people refer to themselves and their language as Lacid. It is according to Nishi (1999: 70) in the Maruic br ...

** Lahta ** Lahu ** Lhao Vo **

Lisu Lisu may refer to: *Lisu people, an ethnic group of Southeast Asia *Lisu language, spoken by the Lisu people * Old Lisu Alphabet or Fraser Alphabet *Lisu syllabary * Lisu (Unicode block), the block of Unicode characters for the Lisu language. *Lisu ...

** Mru ** Mro ** Akyaung Ari ** Kayaw ** Eastern Pwo ** Western Pwo **

Para Para, or PARA, may refer to: Businesses and organizations * Paramount Global, traded as PARA on the Nasdaq stock exchange * Para Group, the former name of CT Corp * Para Rubber, now Skellerup, a New Zealand manufacturer * Para USA, formerly ...

** Khiamniungan **

Koki KOKI-TV (channel 23) is a television station in Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States, affiliated with the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox network. It is owned by INSP (TV channel), Imagicomm Communications alongside MyNetworkTV affiliate KMYT-TV (channel ...

** Konyak ** Leinong **

Tangsa The Tangsa or Tangshang in India and Myanmar (Burma) respectively, is a tribe native to Changlang District of Arunachal Pradesh, parts of Tinsukia District of Assam, in north-eastern India, and across the border in Sagaing Region, parts of K ...

** Long Phuri ** Makury **

Ponyo is a 2008 Japanese animated fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, animated by Studio Ghibli for the Nippon Television Network, Dentsu, Hakuhodo DY Media Partners, Buena Vista Home Entertainment, Mitsubishi, and distributed by ...

** Tangkhul **

** Achang ** Nusu ** Pa'o ** Pyen ** Arakanese ** Rawang ** Riang **

Taman Taman may refer to: Places *Taman Peninsula, a peninsula in southern Russia **Taman Bay, an inlet of the Strait of Kerch off the peninsula **Taman, Russia, a rural locality located on the peninsula ** Port of Taman, a seaport on the Peninsula * ...

Khams Tibetan Khams Tibetan () is the Tibetic languages, Tibetic language used by the majority of the people in Kham. Khams is one of the three branches of the traditional classification of Tibetic languages (the other two being Amdo Tibetan and Ü-Tsang). In ...

Geko Karen Geko is a Karen language of Burma. Yinbaw is reportedly a variety. Speakers of Geko and Yinbaw are ethnically Kayan, as are speakers of Lahta and Padaung. Distribution *northern Kayin State: Thandaunggyi township *southern Shan State: Pekho ...

Zaiwa Zaiwa (autonym: '; Tsaiwa, Tsaiva, 载瓦; Burmese: ဇိုင်ဝါး/အဇီး) is a Burmish language spoken in parts of southwest China and eastern Burma. There are around 100,000 speakers. It is also known as ''Atsi'', its name in ...

** Zou ** Intha-Danu

Austroasiatic

* Blang * Danau * Muak Sa-aak * Palaung * Riang * Tai Loi * Wa * Mon

Kra-Dai

* Khamti * Khün * Tai Lue *

Tai Laing Tai Laing (, variously spelt Tai Lai or Tai Nai), also known as Shan-ni (, ), is a Tai language of Burma, related to Khamti. It is written in its own variant of Burmese script, and though not taught in schools, is experiencing a cultural revival ...

Tai Nuea Tai Nuea or Tai Nüa (Tai Nüa: ; also called Tai Le, Dehong Dai or Chinese Shan; own name: ''Tai2 Lə6'', which means "Upper Tai" or "Northern Tai" or , ; Chinese: ''Dǎinàyǔ'', 傣那语 or ''Déhóng Dǎiyǔ'', 德宏傣语; th, ภาษ� ...

Austronesian

Kedah Malay Kedah Malay or Kedahan (); also known as ''Pelat Utara'' or ''Loghat Utara'' ('Northern Dialect') or as it is known in Thailand, Syburi Malay () is a variety of the Malayic languages mainly spoken in the northwestern Malaysian states of Perlis ...

Moken The Moken (also ''Mawken or'' ''Morgan''; ; th, ชาวเล, lit=sea people, translit=chao le) are an Austronesian people of the Mergui Archipelago, a group of approximately 800 islands claimed by both Myanmar and Thailand. Most of the 2,0 ...

* Moklen * Salone *

Standard Malay Malaysian Malay ( ms, Bahasa Melayu Malaysia), also known as Standard Malay (Malay: ''Bahasa Melayu Standard''), ( English translation: Malaysian language), or simply Malay, is a standardized form of the Malay language used in Malaysia (as o ...

Hmong-Mien

Hmong Hmong may refer to: * Hmong people, an ethnic group living mainly in Southwest China, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand * Hmong cuisine * Hmong customs and culture ** Hmong music ** Hmong textile art * Hmong language, a continuum of closely related to ...

Indo-Aryan

* Nepali (

Burmese Gurkha Burmese Gurkhas ( my, ဂေါ်ရခါးလူမျိုးများ; ne, गोरखाली) are a group of Nepali language speaking Burmese people of Khas/Gurkha ethnic group living in Myanmar (formerly Burma). While the Gurkhas ...

) * Chakma *

Rohingya The Rohingya people () are a stateless Indo-Aryan ethnic group who predominantly follow Islam and reside in Rakhine State, Myanmar (previously known as Burma). Before the Rohingya genocide in 2017, when over 740,000 fled to Bangladesh, an ...

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

* Tanchangya * Hajong

Dravidian

English as a second language

Today, Burmese is the primary language of instruction, and

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

is the secondary language taught.

was the primary language of instruction in higher education from late 19th century to 1964, when Gen.

Ne Win Ne Win ( my, နေဝင်း ; 10 July 1910, or 14 or 24 May 1911 – 5 December 2002) was a Burmese politician and military commander who served as Prime Minister of Burma from 1958 to 1960 and 1962 to 1974, and also President of Burma ...

mandated educational reforms to "Burmanise". English continues to be used by educated urbanites and the national government.

Footnotes

References

* *

Bibliography

* * * *

External links

Linguistic map of Burma from Muturzikin.com

Main spoken languages of Myanmar at MIMU
{{Asia in topic, Languages of bn:মিয়ানমারের ভাষা