Romanization Romanization or romanisation, in linguistics, is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, a ...

of the Burmese alphabet is representation of the

Burmese language Burmese ( my, မြန်မာဘာသာ, MLCTS: ''mranmabhasa'', IPA: ) is a Sino-Tibetan language spoken in Myanmar (also known as Burma), where it is an official language, lingua franca, and the native language of the Burmans, the coun ...

Burmese names Burmese names lack the serial structure of most Western names. The Burmans have no customary matronymic or patronymic system and thus there is no surname at all. In the culture of Myanmar, people can change their name at will, often with no go ...

in the

Latin alphabet The Latin alphabet or Roman alphabet is the collection of letters originally used by the ancient Romans to write the Latin language. Largely unaltered with the exception of extensions (such as diacritics), it used to write English and th ...

Official transcription systems

The MLC

romanization Romanization or romanisation, in linguistics, is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, a ...

system (1980) is promoted inside Myanmar. Inside and outside Myanmar several other systems may also be used. Replicating Burmese sounds in the Latin script is complicated. *

MLC Transcription System The Myanmar Language Commission Transcription System (1980), also known as the MLC Transcription System (MLCTS), is a transliteration system for rendering Burmese in the Latin alphabet. It is loosely based on the common system for romanization of ...

(MLCTS), of the Myanmar Language Commission is the government recommended transliteration system for rendering Burmese in the Latin alphabet. This system is used in many linguistic publications regarding Burmese, and is used in all MLC publications as the primary form of transcription for Burmese. It is loosely based on the widely accepted academic romanization of Pali, and has some similarities to the Library of Congress'

ALA-LC Romanization ALA-LC (American Library AssociationLibrary of Congress) is a set of standards for romanization, the representation of text in other writing systems using the Latin script. Applications The system is used to represent bibliographic information by ...

index system for Burmese publications. MLCTS transcribes sounds in formal Burmese and is based on the

orthography An orthography is a set of conventions for writing a language, including norms of spelling, hyphenation, capitalization, word breaks, emphasis, and punctuation. Most transnational languages in the modern period have a writing system, and ...

rather than the

phonology Phonology is the branch of linguistics that studies how languages or dialects systematically organize their sounds or, for sign languages, their constituent parts of signs. The term can also refer specifically to the sound or sign system of a ...

. * BGN/PCGN romanization of Burmese (1970) is the

BGN/PCGN romanization BGN/PCGN romanization are the systems for romanization and Roman-script spelling conventions adopted by the United States Board on Geographic Names (BGN) and the Permanent Committee on Geographical Names for British Official Use (PCGN). The system ...

adopted by the United States Board on Geographic Names (BGN) and the Permanent Committee on Geographical Names for British Official Use (PCGN). *

for Burmese is used by the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...

for cataloguing Burmese language book holdings.

Academic and language-teaching transcription systems

Academic and language-teaching transcription systems include: * Mendelson's system: i.e. E. Michael Mendelson (1975) * Cornyn-Roop system: i.e. William S. Cornyn, D. Haigh Roop ''Beginning Burmese'' (1968) *

John Okell John William Alan Okell OBE (; 1934 – 3 August 2020) was a British linguist notable for his expertise in the field of Burma studies. Life Okell was born in Brighton and was educated at The Queen's College, University of Oxford, where he ...

''A Guide to the Romanization of Burmese'' (2002) - conventional transcription with accented tones. * Minn Latt ''The Prague method romanization of Burmese'' (1958) - method was created as author was teaching burmese in Charles University in Prague. Method is based on system of William Cornyn (1944).Minn Latt. The Prague method romanization of Burmese. In ''Archiv Orientální: journal of the Czechoslovak Oriental Institute, Prague'', 26, 1958, pp. 145-167.

Personal names

Several colloquial transcription systems have been proposed, but none is overwhelmingly preferred over others. Transcription of Burmese is not standardized, as seen in the varying English transcriptions of Burmese names. For instance, a Burmese personal name like () may be variously romanized as Win, Winn, Wyn, or Wynn, while () may be romanized as Khaing, Khine, or Khain.

References

{{Burmese language Burmese Burmese language