Arakanese language

The Arakanese language (also known as Rakhine /rəˈkaɪn/; Burmese: ရခိုင်ဘာသာ, MLCTS: ra.hkuing bhasa [ɹəkʰàɪɴ bàθà]) is often considered a dialect of Burmese. Sometimes it is considered a separate language. "Arakan" is the former name for the Rakhine region. Arakanese can be divided into three dialects: Sittwe–Marma (about two thirds of speakers), Ramree, and Thandwe.^[3]

Vocabulary

There are significant vocabulary differences from Standard Burmese. Some are native words with no cognates in Standard Burmese, like "sarong" (လုံခြည် in Standard Burmese, ဒယော in Arakanese). Others are loan words from Bengali, English, and Hindi, not found in Standard Burmese. An example is "hospital," which is called ဆေးရုံ in Standard Burmese, but is called သေပ်လှိုင် (pronounced [θeɪʔ l̥àɪɴ]/[ʃeɪʔ l̥àɪɴ]) in Arakanese, from English "sick lines." Other words simply have different meanings (e.g., "afternoon", ညစ in Arakanese and ညနေ in Standard Burmese). Moreover, some archaic words in Standard Burmese are preferred in Arakanese. An example is the first person pronoun, which is အကျွန် in Arakanese (not ကျွန်တော်, as in Standard Burmese).

Comparison

A gloss of vocabulary differences between Standard Burmese and Arakanese is below:^[4]

Phonology

Arakanese prominently uses the /r/ sound, which has merged to the /j/ sound in standard Burmese. This is particularly interesting because the use of the ‘r’ sound is something that is avoided with Burmese speakers. For example, Burmese pronounce the words, “tiger” or “to hear” (both words have similar pronunciation) as “kya,” where in Arakanese, it would be pronounced as, “kra.”^[6] Also, Arakanese has merged various vowel sounds like ဧ ([e]) vowel to ဣ ([i]). Hence, a word like "blood" is သွေး ([θwé]) in standard Burmese while it pronounced [θwí] in Arakanese. According to speakers of standard Burmese, Arakanese only has an intelligibility of seventy-five percent with Burmese.^[7] Moreover, there is less voicing in Arakanese than in Standard Burmese, occurring only when the consonant is unaspirated.^[8] Unlike in Burmese, voicing never shifts from [θ] to [ð].^[9]

Because Arakanese has preserved the /r/ sound, the /-r-/ medial (preserved only in writing in Standard Burmese with the diacritic ြ) is still distinguished in the following consonant clusters: /ɡr- kr- kʰr- ŋr- pr- pʰr- br- mr- m̥r- hr-/.

The Arakanese dialect has a higher frequency of open vowels weakening to /ə/. An example is the word for "salary," (လခ) which is [la̰ɡa̰] in standard Burmese, but [ləkha̰] in Arakanese.

The following are consonantal, vowel and rhyme changes found in the Arakanese dialect:^[10][11]

References

Bibliography

• Houghton, Bernard (1897). "The Arakanese Dialect of the Burman Language". The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland: 453–461. JSTOR 25207880. 
• Okell, John (1995). "Three Burmese Dialects" (PDF). Papers in Southeast Asian Linguistics. 13. 

Languages of Myanmar
Official language	Burmese
Semiofficial language	English
Indigenous languages (by state or region)	Chin Kukish Northern Falam Siyin Tedim Thado Zo Central Bawm Hakha Chin Mizo Ngawn Tawr Maraic Lautu Mara Senthang Zotung Zyphe Southern Daai Kaang Khumi Müün Nga La Shö Songlai Sumtu Thaiphum Welaung Other Anu-Hkongso Long Phuri Kachin Sino-Tibetan Achang Drung Hpon Jingpho Lashi Lhao Vo Lisu Nusu Rawang Zaiwa Other Khamti Nung Palaung Tai Laing Kayah Kayaw Red Karen Kayin Bwe Karen Geba Karen Pwo Eastern Western S’gaw Karen Magway Rungtu Mon Mon Rakhine Arakanese Chakma Laitu Mro-Khimi Mru Rohingya Sak Sagaing Sal Htangan Khiamniungan Konyak Makyan Ponyo Sak Tangsa Other Akyaung Ari Anal Koki Naga Makuri Para Tangkhul Shan Austroasiatic Blang Danau Palaung Riang Tai Loi Wa Sino-Tibetan Akeu Akha Danu Geko Karen Intha Lahta Lahu Pa’o Padaung Pyen Taungyo Tai-Kadai Khün Tai Lü Shan Tai Nüa Other Hmong Njua Tanintharyi Moken S’gaw Tavoyan
Sign languages	Burmese sign language