Intha and Danu constitute southern Burmish languages of

Shan State Shan State ( my, ရှမ်းပြည်နယ်, ; shn, မိူင်းတႆး, italics=no) also known by the endonyms Shanland, Muang Tai, and Tailong, is a state of Myanmar. Shan State borders China (Yunnan) to the north, Laos ( ...

, Burma, spoken by the Danu and

Intha people The Intha (, ; , also spelt Innthar) are members of a Tibeto-Burman ethnic group living around Inle Lake. There are around 100,000 to 200,000 Intha. Origins The origins of the Intha are disputed; the Intha believe their ancestors arrived from ...

. They are considered dialects of Burmese by the

Government of Myanmar Myanmar ( also known as Burma) operates ''de jure'' as a unitary assembly-independent republic under its 2008 constitution. On 1 February 2021, Myanmar's military took over the government in a coup, causing ongoing anti-coup protests. Po ...

. Danu is spoken by the

Danu people The Danu people ( my, ဓနု) are a government-recognized ethnic group in Myanmar, predominantly populating the areas near the Pindaya Caves in Shan State. They speak the Danu language.

, Intha by the Intha, a group of

Bamar The Bamar (, ; also known as the Burmans) are a 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, constituting 68% of th ...

descendants who migrated to

Inle Lake Inle Lake (, ), a freshwater lake located in the Nyaungshwe Township of Shan State, part of Shan Hills in Myanmar (Burma). It is the second largest lake in Myanmar with an estimated surface area of , and one of the highest at an elevation of ...

in Shan State. Both are spoken by about 100,000. Both are characterized by a retention of the medial (for the following consonant clusters in Intha: ). Examples include: *"full": Standard Burmese () → (), from old Burmese *"ground": Standard Burmese () → (), from old Burmese There is no voicing with the presence of either aspirated or unaspirated consonants. For instance, (Buddha) is pronounced in standard Burmese, but in Intha. This is probably due to influence from the

Shan language The Shan language (written Shan: , , spoken Shan: , or , ; my, ရှမ်းဘာသာ, ; th, ภาษาไทใหญ่, ) is the native language of the Shan people and is mostly spoken in Shan State, Myanmar. It is also spoken in ...

. Furthermore, ( in standard Burmese) has merged to () in Intha.

Rhymes

Rhyme correspondences to standard Burmese follow these patterns:

Vocabulary

Danu has noticeable vocabulary differences from standard Burmese, spanning areas such as kinship terms, food, flora and fauna, and daily objects. For example, the Danu term for 'cat' is ' ( Dnv-míɔ

), not ''kyaung'' (ကြောင်) as in standard Burmese.

Kinship terms

References

{{Languages of Burma Burmese language