 |
|---|
|
Government
|
Judiciary
|
Exiled government
|
 Myanmar portal |
Thecountry known in English asBurma, orMyanmar, has undergonechanges in both its official and popular names worldwide. The choice of names stems from the existence of two different names for the country inBurmese, which are used in different contexts.
The official English nameBurma (Burmese:မြန်မာ) was changed by the country's government from the "Union of Burma" to the "Union of Myanmar" in 1989, while official Burmese language name remained unchanged (Burmese:ပြည်ထောင်စုမြန်မာနိုင်ငံတော်).[1] Since then, those name changes have been the subject of controversies and mixed incidences of adoption. In spoken Burmese, "Bamar" and "Myanmar" remain interchangeable, especially with respect to referencing the language and country.[2]
In the Burmese language, Burma is officially known asMyanmar Pyi (Burmese:မြန်မာပြည်), but also interchangeably used withBamar Pyi (ဗမာပြည်).[2]Myanmar is the written, literary name of the country, whileBama is the spoken name of the country.[3] Burmese, likeJavanese and other languages of Southeast Asia, has differentlinguistic registers, with sharp differences between literary and colloquial registers.[4] Both names derive ultimately from the endonym of the country's largest ethnic group, theBurmans (also known as the Bamars), also known asBama orMranma in the spoken and literary registers, respectively. As such, some groups—particularly non-Burmans minorities—consider these names to be exclusionary.
The etymology ofMranma remains debated.[5] The British colonial scholar,Arthur Purves Phayre, traced the etymology of this term toPali wordBrahmā, the name of a celestial being inBuddhist cosmology, in his 1866 "On the History of the Burmah Race."[6] Subsequent scholars, includingTaw Sein Ko, Kyaw Dun, and Khin Aye, re-affirmed Phayre's view.[6] However, some scholars dispute this etymology, believing the term to be of indigenous provenance.[6]
The "Burmans" who entered the centralIrrawaddy River valley in the 9th century founded thePagan Kingdom in 849,[7] and called themselves Mranma.[8] The earliest discovered record of the word was in aMon inscription dated 1083, inside which the name was spelledMirma.[6] The first record of the name in a Burmese inscription is dated 1194, in which inscription the name was spelledMranma.[5] From there on, the term became a fixed label in reference to Burmese kingdoms and peoples.[9]
Ma Thanegi records that the first use of the name 'Mranma' for the country is to be found on a 3 feet (91 cm) high stone inscription, known as the 'Yadana Kon Htan Inscription,' dated 597 ME (Traditional Burmese calendar) or 1235 CE.[10] The stone is from the reign ofKyaswa, (1234-1250) son of KingHtilominlo (Nadaungmya),Bagan. It is written in early Burmese script. Although the middle of the front side of this stone is damaged, the first line of the better-protected reverse side clearly shows မြန်မာပြည် ("Mranma kingdom"). At present it is in Bagan recorded as stone number 43 in the Archaeological Department's collection.[11]
Today in Burmese the name is still spelledMranma, but over time the "r" sound disappeared in most dialects of the Burmese language and was replaced by a "y" glide, so although the name is spelled "Mranma", it is actually pronouncedMyanma today.
In the decades preceding independence, independence parties were in search of a name for the new country to be born, which would be made up not only of Burmese-speaking people, but also of many minorities. In the 1920s, some favoured the nameMranma, which had been the name applied to the old Burmese kingdomconquered by theBritish Empire in the 19th century. In the 1930s, the left-wing independence parties favoured the nameBama, as they thought this name was more inclusive of minorities thanMranma.[citation needed]
While both the namesBama andMranma historically referred only to the Burmans and not other ethnic minorities, Burmese governments in the post-independence period have instituted a differentiation of meaning between Mranma and Bama in the official Burmese language usage. The name Myanma/Myanmar was expanded to include all citizens of the country while the name Bama was kept to its original meaning. In Burmese, Bama and Myanma are used interchangeably, to refer to the country, depending on the context. Ironically, because of the official renaming of the country, the dominant ethnic group is now known by its colloquial name,Bama, rather than by its literary name,Mranma in official Burmese usage.[4]
The earliest extant Burmese reference to "Bamar" is in theShwezigon Pagoda Bell Inscription dated toc. 1550.[6] The exact origins of this term are debated — it likely originated from a phonological transformation ("Myanma" → "Bama") that commonly occurs in Burmesecompound words, or may be derived from a colloquialMon pronunciation of the term. In modern Mon, the Bamar are calledhemea (ဗၟာ,/həmɛ̀a/).[6]
The colloquial nameBama likely originated from the nameMyanma by shortening of the first syllable, from loss of nasal final "an" (/-àɴ/), reduced to non-nasal "a" (/-à/), and loss of "y" (/-j-/)glide), and then by transformation of "m" into "b". Thisconsonant mutation from "m" to "b" is frequent in colloquial Burmese[citation needed] and occurs in many other words.[3][12] AlthoughBama may be a later transformation of the nameMyanma, both names have been in use alongside each other for centuries.[citation needed]
The term "Bama" gained traction in the 19th century, but "Myanma" continued to be officially used by colonial authorities in Burmese language contexts.[6] In 1930s,ဘသောင်း [my], founder of theDobama Asiayone (We Burmans Association), referred to the country asBama Pyi (ဗမာပြည်), which helped popularize the term.[6] He felt that the pronunciation ofMranma is "weak" and that ofBama is "strong". He also added thatBama refers to, not only theMranma ethnic group, but all ethnic groups present in the country.[13]
Use of "Bamar" became prominent during theJapanese occupation of Burma.[6] The Japanese adopted the Burmese term "State ofBama" (ဗမာနိုင်ငံတော်) during this period,[6] in reference to the Burmesepuppet state set up by the Japanese occupation forces during theSecond World War. When the Japanese used their own syllabary, they transliterated the three consonants of the Dutch name "Birma" and ended up with the name Biruma (ビルマ).
During the socialist era, the1974 Constitution of Burma used "Bama" in reference to the nationality, and use of "Myanma" in reference to the country.[6] In 1989, theState Law and Order Restoration Council, the country's ruling military junta, issued an edict to designate "Bama" to reference the ethnicity, and "Myanma" to reference the nationality.[6]
In English, the official name chosen for the country at the time of independence was "Burma". This was already the name that the British called their colony before 1948. This name most likely comes fromPortugueseBirmânia[citation needed] and was adopted by English in the 18th century. The Portuguese name itself, a Latinate back-formation (cp. Germâniavs. Alemanha), came from the Indian nameBarma which was borrowed by the Portuguese from any of the Indian languages in the 16th or 17th century. This Indian nameBarma may derive from colloquial BurmeseBama, but it may also derive from the Indian nameBrahma-desh.
Early usage of the English term Burma varies:
At the time of independence in 1948, the "Union of Burma" (Burmese:ပြည်ထောင်စုမြန်မာနိုင်ငံတော်) was the name that was chosen for the new country, being further amended as the "Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma" (Burmese:ပြည်ထောင်စု ဆိုရှယ်လစ်သမ္မတ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံတော်) in 1974, following a 1962military coup.
In 1989, the military regime of Burma set up a commission in charge of reviewing the place names of Burma in the English language. The aim of the commission was to correct the spelling of the place names of Burma in English, to discard spellings chosen by British colonial authorities in the 19th century, and adopt spellings closer to the actual Burmese pronunciation (compare withwhat happened in India with Calcutta/Kolkata and Calicut/Kozhikode). These renamings took the form of the "Adaptation of Expressions Law", passed on 18 June 1989. Thus, for instance, Rangoon (Burmese:ရန်ကုန်) was changed toYangon to reflect the fact that the "r" sound is no longer used in Standard Burmese and merged with a "y" glide.[14]
As for the country's name, the commission replaced the English name "Burma" with "Myanmar" for three reasons. First,Myanma is the official name of the country in the Burmese language used sincedeclaration of independence (Burmese:လွတ်လပ်ရေးကြေညာစာတမ်း) from Britain in 1948, and the aim of the commission was to have English place names aligned with Burmese place names and pronunciation. Second, the commission thought that the nameMyanma was more inclusive of minorities than the nameBama, and wanted the English name of the country to reflect this. Finally, the military regime has long been suspicious[citation needed] of the colloquial Burmese language, which it perceives as subversive; the English name "Burma" mirrors the colloquial Burmese nameBama.
The final "r" in the English "Myanmar" is absent in BurmeseMyanma (much as the medial "r" in "Burma" is absent in standard BurmeseBama). The commission added a final "r" in English to represent the low tone of Burmese, in which the wordMyanma is pronounced. In the low tone, the final vowel "a" is lengthened. The commission based its choice of spelling onReceived Pronunciation and othernon-rhoticEnglish English dialects, in which "ar" (without a following vowel) is also pronounced as long "a" (often given as "ah" in American English). However, in variants of English in which final "r" is pronounced, such as standard American English, adding this final "r" leads to a pronunciation very different from the Burmese pronunciation.
In the Burmese language, there have been controversies about the name of the country since the 1930s, and the decision of the regime in 1989 carried the controversy into the English language. The regime believes thatMyanmar is more inclusive of minorities thanBama, while opponents point out that historically,Myanmar is only a more literary version ofBama.[citation needed]
Quite the opposite of being more inclusive, opposition parties[which?] and human rights groups[which?] contend that the new English name "Myanmar" is actually disrespectful of the minorities of Burma.[citation needed] Minorities, many of whom do not speak Burmese, had become accustomed to the English name "Burma" over the years, and they perceive the new name "Myanmar" as a purely Burmese name reflecting the policy of domination of the ethnic Burman majority over the minorities.[citation needed]
The regime changed the name of the country when using English; it did not change the official name of the country in Burmese. Former opposition leaderAung San Suu Kyi at first opposed the new name "Myanmar", pointing out the hypocritical justification of inclusivity put forward by the regime. Opposition parties, although they oppose the English name "Myanmar", do not oppose the official Burmese nameMranma, and no opposition party is proposing to use the colloquial nameBama as the official name of the country. Culturally, when speaking, locals refer to the country as Burma, but in literature, it is named "Myanmar".[15]
Finally, a lot of criticism also focused on the alleged lack of linguistic soundness of the reform. Only four language scholars sat in the 1989 commission, while the majority of the commission was made up of military officials and civil servants with no particular knowledge of linguistics.[citation needed] It was claimed that the new names lacked serious linguistic credibility or were questionable, and in particular there were objections to the fact that the commission had based its spelling on anon-rhotic dialect of English in using the final "r" at the end of the name Myanmar.[citation needed]
Since the Burmese government's 1989 decision to use "Myanmar" rather than "Burma" when using English, adoption of the new name in the English-speaking world has been mixed. Use of "Burma", along with many other name changes within Myanmar[16] has remained widespread, largely based on the question of whether the regime has the legitimacy to change the country's name, particularly without areferendum.[14]
TheUnited Nations, of which Myanmar is a member, endorsed the name change five days after its announcement.[17] However, theUnited States[18] still refers to the country as "Burma". The United States government attributes its choice to support for the party deemed to have won the 1990 election but been denied power by the junta. That party opposes the new name.[19]
Following the2011–2012 democratic reforms in Burma, politicians started using "Myanmar" more frequently.[20] The British government also cites the elected party's preference in its statement on its choice of name.[21] A spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs in Canada said that his government's choice was "in support of the struggle for democracy".[17] Others, including theAssociation of Southeast Asian Nations and the governments ofChina,India,Japan,[22]Germany,[23]Australia,[24]Canada[25] andRussia recognize "Myanmar" as the official name.
During the 2005ASEAN summit inThailand, the Foreign MinisterNyan Win complained about the US insistence of calling his country "Burma" instead of "Myanmar" as it was renamed more than a decade ago.[26] In January 2011, during theUniversal Periodic Review (UPR) of the country at the United Nations, the delegate of Myanmar interrupted the delegate of the United States, who had begun her comments onhuman rights in Myanmar by "welcom[ing] the Burmese delegation to the UPR working group". Myanmar's delegate insisted that the American delegation should use the name "Myanmar", and appealed to the session's president to enforce that rule. The latter commented that "we're here to discuss human rights in Myanmar, we're not here to discuss the name of the country", and asked the American delegation to use Myanmar's official, UN-recognised name. The American delegate continued her comments on human rights violations in Myanmar, without using either name for the country.[27] On 19 November 2012, US PresidentBarack Obama, accompanied by Secretary of StateHillary Clinton on her second visit to the country, referred to the nation as both Myanmar and Burma.[28]
Media usage is also mixed. In spite of the usage by the US government, American news outlets includingThe New York Times,The Wall Street Journal, TheInternational Herald Tribune andCNN, and US-based international news agencies theAssociated Press andReuters have adopted the name "Myanmar". Others have continued to use "Burma",[23] some of whom have switched to using "Myanmar" years after the name change, such as theFinancial Times,[29] citing increasing international acceptance of the new name. TheBBC changed to using "Myanmar" in 2014.[30][31]
Some other sources, includingNPR in the US use terms such as "Myanmar, also known as Burma".[32]
Another approach taken by some historians is to continue to use the name "Burma" for describing the history of the country prior to the 1988 military coup and "Myanmar" from there on. This also contravenes the intentions of the government, whose naming reform in 1989 was to apply to the entire history of the country. Those using this approach argue that it is the most politically neutral option.[33]
In June 2014, theAustralian government, led by Prime MinisterTony Abbott, continued a long-running discussion on the manner in which Australian officials would refer to the Southeast Asian nation. While Burma was the formal title used by the Australian government, the Labor government revised the national name to the Union of Myanmar in 2012. However, the matter has resurfaced, as the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) reverted to the former title under Abbott's leadership in late 2013. A reason for the change has not appeared in the media, but, as of June 2014, the Abbott government's policy advises officials to switch between Burma and Myanmar, in accordance with the circumstances at hand. DFAT secretary Peter Varghese explained to the media: "Our ambassador to Myanmar would be our ambassador to Myanmar, because the country to which she is accredited is Myanmar, in the eyes of the government of Myanmar."[34]
In April 2016, soon after taking office, Aung San Suu Kyi voiced the position that foreigners are free to use either name, "because there is nothing in the constitution of our country that says that you must use any term in particular."[35]
| Existing term | Replaced by | Type |
|---|---|---|
| Burma | Myanmar | noun |
| Burmese | Myanma / Myanmar | adjective |
| Burman | Bamar | noun |
| Burman | Bamar | adjective |
In Burmese, the wordMyanma, when used as a noun, is pronounced in the low tone (long "a", Okell:Myañma/Myăma), whereas when used as an adjective, it is pronounced in the creaky tone (short "a") as if it were spelt "မြန်မာ့" (MLCTS:mranma., Okell:Myañmá/Myămá).[citation needed] To reflect this, in the 1989 government renaming the adjectival form of the country's name "Myanmar" is formed by dropping the final "r" to get "Myanma" (since the final "r" indicates lengthening innon-rhotic English). But currently, the government seems to favour the unchanged term "Myanmar" again, as in various texts issued lately, especially from the Ministry of Education, has stated "Myanmar" as the correct adjective of the country.[36]
Most people, even in Burma, are unaware of these subtleties, as it occurs only in spoken Burmese. Some English speakers have even coined the adjective "Myanmarese" or "Myanmese", to follow English rather than Burmese grammatical rules. These adjectives are not recommended as most natives of Myanmar preferred to be called either the old way of "Burmese", "Myanmar", or "Myanma" representing the many diverse races in the country.
According to the replacement, the name of the dominant ethnicity of Burma, whose people speak the Burmese language, is "Bamar" (again, final "r" only added to denote a long "a" in Burmese). Thus,Myanmar is a country inhabited by theBamars plus many minorities; and theBamars and minorities are collectively known asMyanma people.[citation needed]
While the use of the name "Myanmar" is widespread and rivals the use of "Burma", adoption of adjectival forms has been far more limited; in general, terms in use before 1989 have persisted. Citizens of Burma, regardless of their ethnicity, are known as "Burmese", while the dominant ethnicity is called "Burman". The language of the Burmans, however, is known as the Burmese language, not as the Burman language, although confusingly enough the "Burmese" language is considered one of theTibeto-"Burman" languages.[citation needed]
"Myanmar" is known by various terms in languages spoken throughout the country, includingHemea (ဗၟာ,/həmɛ̀a/) in Mon, andMan (မၢၼ်ႈ) in Shan.[6] In neighboring Southeast Asian countries, Myanmar is known asPham̀ā (Lao:ພະມ້າ,Thai:พม่า) inLao andThai, andPhumae (ភូមា) in Khmer.
InAssamese the country is known asMan Dex (মান দেশ, "Maan country") since the time when the 1stAhom kingSukapha crossed Patkai hills to come to Assam valley from Myanmar. The period of Burmese invasions to Assam are known asManor Din ( মানৰ দিন, "Days of Maan").
In Bengali the name isBrahmadesh (ব্রহ্মদেশ). It is the same in case of Sanskrit and Sanskrit-based languages in other parts of India. This name predates the Portuguese or British names but it is not clear whether this name has roots connected to the 'Mrnma' people or it predates them also.
InTamil, although not used as much anymore, Myanmar was referred to asPutpagam (புட்பகம்). It is most likely derived from the name of thePagan Kingdom. The most iconic reference using this name occurs inSubramania Bharati's "Senthamizh Nadenum" song which also lists other Tamilized place names.
InChinese, the name appeared for the first time in 1273 and was recorded as 緬 (pronouncedmiɛnX in the Middle Chinese of the period, andMiǎn in ModernStandard Mandarin).[5] The present name in theChinese is 緬甸 (pronouncedMiǎndiàn). JapaneseMenden (緬甸), KoreanMyeondeon (면전),VietnameseMiến Điện are derived from the same Chinese term. Historically Japan used the Chinese characters of "Menden" (緬甸) to refer to Burma. This form remains in contemporary usage in abbreviations; for example, the World War II-eraBurma-Thailand Railway is still referred to almost exclusively as theTai-Men Tetsudō (泰緬鉄道).
In Japan, although the Japanese government's basic position is to useMyanmā (ミャンマー), often media organisations indicateBiruma (ビルマ) in parentheses afterwards.Biruma may be used more often in the spoken language, whileMyanmā is more common in written language. Popular Japanese fictional works such asThe Burmese Harp (Biruma no tategoto) mean that the nameBiruma may have more of an emotional resonance to readers.[37]
In Romance languages, Myanmar is known by a name derived fromBurma as opposed toMyanmar inSpanish,Italian,Romanian –Birmania being the local version ofBurma in both Italian and Spanish,Birmânia in Portuguese, andBirmanie in French. The same is true of theGreek language.[38] As in the past, French-language media today consistently useBirmanie.[39][40]
YANGON, Burma (AP) — Officially at least, America still calls this Southeast Asian nation Burma, the favored appellation of dissidents and pro-democracy activists who opposed the former military junta's move to summarily change its name 23 years ago.
| Sovereign states |
|
|---|---|
| States with limited recognition | |
| Dependencies and other territories | |
