| Rakhine | |
| Also Known As: | Arakanese |
| Nativename: | ရက္ခိုင်ဘာသာ |
| Pronunciation: | in Burmese pronounced as /ɹəkʰàɪɴbàθà/ |
| Ethnicity: | Rakhine, Kamein, Marma |
| States: | Myanmar, Bangladesh, India |
| Region: |
|
| Speakers: | 1 million |
| Date: | 2011–2013 |
| Ref: | e18 |
| Speakers2: | 1 million second language speakers in Myanmar (2013) |
| Familycolor: | Sino-Tibetan |
| Fam2: | Tibeto-Burman |
| Fam3: | Lolo-Burmese |
| Fam4: | Burmish |
| Fam5: | Burmese |
| Dia1: | Ramree |
| Dia2: | Marma |
| Script: | Burmese script |
| Map: | Rakhine State in Myanmar.svg |
| Mapcaption: | Rakhine State shown within Myanmar |
| Lc1: | rki |
| Ld1: | Rakhine ("Arakanese") |
| Lc2: | rmz |
| Ld2: | Marma ("Burmese") |
| Glotto: | arak1255 |
| Glottorefname: | Arakanese–Marma |
Rakhine (; Burmese: ရခိုင်ဘာသာ, MLCTS: Burmese: ra.hkuing bhasa in Burmese pronounced as /ɹəkʰàɪɴ bàθà/), also known as Arakanese, is a Tibeto-Burman language spoken in western Myanmar, primarily in the Rakhine State. Closely related to Burmese, the language is spoken by the Rakhine and Marma peoples; it is estimated to have around one million native speakers and it is spoken as a second language by a further million.
Though Arakanese has some similarity with standard Burmese, Burmese speakers find it difficult to communicate with Arakanese speakers. Thus, it is often considered to be a dialect or variety of Burmese. As there are no universally accepted criteria for distinguishing a language from a dialect, scholars and other interested parties often disagree about the linguistic, historical and social status of Arakanese.[1] There are three dialects of Arakanese: Sittwe–Marma (about two thirds of speakers), Ramree, and Thandwe.
While Arakanese and Standard Burmese share the majority of lexicon, Arakanese has numerous vocabulary differences. Some are native words with no cognates in Standard Burmese, like 'sarong' (in Standard Burmese, in Arakanese). Others are loan words from Bengali, English, and Hindi, not found in Standard Burmese. An example is 'hospital', which is called in Standard Burmese, but is called (pronounced pronounced as /[θeɪʔ l̥àɪɴ]/[ʃeɪʔ l̥àɪɴ]/) in Arakanese, from English sick lines. Other words simply have different meanings (e.g., 'afternoon', in Arakanese and in Standard Burmese). Moreover, some archaic words in Standard Burmese are preferred in Arakanese. An example is the first person pronoun, which is in Arakanese (not, as in Standard Burmese). A more unique difference is the 'Hra' sound which is not found in Burmese: only in Arakanese. eg. ဟြာ(Hra/Seek) and Hraa(ဟြား/very good/smart).
A gloss of vocabulary differences between Standard Burmese and Arakanese is below:[2]
| English | Standard Burmese | Arakanese | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| thirsty | ||||
| go | Arakanese for 'go' was historically used in Standard Burmese. | |||
| kick a ball | ||||
| stomach ache | Arakanese prefers to Standard Burmese for 'stomach'. | |||
| guava | Standard Burmese for 'guava' is derived from the word Malacca, whereas Arakanese for 'guava' is from Spanish Spanish; Castilian: guayaba, from guayaba. | |||
| papaya | Standard Burmese for 'papaya' literally means 'boat'. | |||
| soap | From Portuguese "sabão". In Standard Burmese, '' means 'rebel' or 'insurgent'. | |||
| superficial | [3] | |||
| blanket | in Standard Burmese refers to the men's longyi (sarong). | |||
| dark | The compound word ('pitch dark') is used in both Standard Burmese and Arakanese. | |||
| pick a flower | The compound word ('pick') is used in both Standard Burmese and Arakanese. | |||
| wash [clothes] | The compound word ('wash') is used in both Standard Burmese and Arakanese. | |||
| ---> |
The phonological system described here is the inventory of sounds, represented using the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA).
The consonants of Arakanese are:
| Bilabial | Dental/Alveolar | Post-al./ Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| central | sibilant | ||||||
| Nasal | voiced | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||
| voiceless | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||
| Plosive | voiced | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||
| plain | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||
| aspirated | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||
| Fricative | voiced | pronounced as /link/ | |||||
| voiceless | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||
| aspirated | pronounced as /link/ | ||||||
| Lateral | voiced | pronounced as /link/ | |||||
| voiceless | pronounced as /link/ | ||||||
| Approximant | voiced | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||
| voiceless | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||||
The vowels of Arakanese are:
| Monophthongs | Diphthongs | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Front | Central | Back | Front offglide | Back offglide | ||
| Close | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | ||||
| Close-mid | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ei/ | pronounced as /ou/ | |
| Open-mid | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | ||||
| Open | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ai/ | pronounced as /au/ | |||
The Arakanese dialect also has a higher frequency of open vowels weakening to pronounced as //ə// than Standard Burmese. An example is the word for 'salary',, which is pronounced as /[la̰ɡa̰]/ in standard Burmese, but pronounced as /[ləkha̰]/ in Arakanese.
The following is a summary of consonantal, vowel and rhyme differences from Standard Burmese found in the Arakanese dialect:
| Written Burmese | Standard Burmese | Arakanese | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| pronounced as //-ɪʔ// | pronounced as //-aɪʔ// | e.g. 'genuine' and 'plant' are both pronounced pronounced as /[saɪʔ]/ in Arakanese | ||
| pronounced as //-aɪʔ// | ||||
| -ɛʔ | -ɔʔ | |||
| pronounced as //-ɪɴ// | pronounced as //-aɪɴ// | e.g. 'garden', from Standard Burmese pronounced as /[ṵ jɪ̀ɴ]/ → pronounced as /[wəjàɪɴ]/. Irregular rhyme, with various pronunciations. In some words, it is pronounced as //-ɛɴ// (e.g. 'soul', from Standard Burmese pronounced as /[wèɪɴ ɲɪ̀ɴ]/ → pronounced as /[wḭ ɲɛ̀ɴ]/). In a few words, it is pronounced as //-i -e// (e.g. 'to oppress', from Standard Burmese pronounced as /[ɲ̥ɪ́ɴ]/ → pronounced as /[ɲ̥í, ɲ̥é]/). | ||
| pronounced as //-aɪɴ// | ||||
| pronounced as //-ɪɴ// | pronounced as //-ɔɴ// | |||
| pronounced as //-aɴ -ʊɴ// | is pronounced as //-wɔɴ// | |||
| pronounced as //-i, -e, -ɛ// | pronounced as //-e// | A few exceptions are pronounced pronounced as //-aɪɴ//, like 'clear', pronounced pronounced as /[kɹàɪɴ]/ | ||
| pronounced as //-e// | pronounced as //-i// | e.g. 'carry' and 'cancel' are pronounced pronounced as /[tɕʰì]/ and pronounced as /[tɕʰè]/ respectively in Standard Burmese, but merged to pronounced as /[tɕʰì]/ in Arakanese | ||
| pronounced as //-aʔ -ʊʔ// | pronounced as //-aʔ// | |||
| pronounced as //-eɪɴ// | pronounced as //-ɪɴ// | |||
| pronounced as //-oʊɴ// | pronounced as //-ʊɴ// | |||
| Nasal initial + Nasal initial + | pronounced as //-i// | pronounced as //-eɪɴ// | e.g. 'red' is pronounced as /[nì]/ in Standard Burmese, but pronounced as /[nèɪɴ]/ in Arakanese In some words, the rhyme is unchanged from the standard rhyme (e.g. 'land', usually pronounced pronounced as /[mɹì]/, not pronounced as /[mɹèɪɴ]/, or 'mother', usually pronounced pronounced as /[əmḭ]/, not pronounced as /[əmḛɪɴ]/ There are few exceptions where the nasal rhyme is pronounced as //-eɪɴ-// even without a nasal initial (e.g. 'thread', from Standard Burmese pronounced as /[θì]/ → pronounced as /[θèɪɴ]/). | |
| Nasal initial + | pronounced as //-u// | pronounced as //-oʊɴ// | e.g. 'tender' is pronounced as /[nṵ]/ in Standard Burmese, but pronounced as /[no̰ʊɴ]/ in Arakanese | |
| pronounced as //-wá// | pronounced as //-ɔ́// | e.g. 'bamboo' is pronounced as /[wá]/ in Standard Burmese, but pronounced as /[wɔ́]/ in Arakanese | ||
| pronounced as //-w-// | pronounced as //-ɹw-// | Occurs in some words (e.g. 'snake' is pronounced as /[mwè]/ in Standard Burmese, but pronounced as /[mɹwèɪɴ]/ in Arakanese) | ||
| pronounced as //ʃ-// | pronounced as //hɹ-// | |||
| pronounced as //tɕʰ-// | pronounced as //ʃ-// | Occasionally occurs (e.g. 'to want' is pronounced as /[tɕʰɪ̀ɴ]/ in Standard Burmese, but pronounced as /[ʃɔ̀ɴ]/~pronounced as /[tɕʰɔ̀ɴ]/ in Arakanese) | ||
| → | pronounced as //t- d-// | pronounced as //ɹ-// | e.g. The present tense particle (pronounced as /[dɛ̀]/) corresponds with (pronounced as /[ɹɛ̀]/) in Arakanese e.g. The plural particle (pronounced as /[do̰]/) corresponds with (pronounced as /[ɹo̰]/) in Arakanese | |
| pronounced as //ʃ-// | pronounced as //h-// | Found in some words only | ||
| -ɛ | -e |
| Written | |||||||||
| Standard Burmese | ʔəmè ɡa̰ | ðədʒàɴ pwɛ́ dwɪ̀ɴ | wʊʔ jàɴ | tʰəmèɪɴ | ʃɪʔ tʰɛ̀ | pé laɪʔ pà | sʰò dɛ̀ | ||
| Arakanese | ʔəmì ɡa̰ | θɔ́ɴkràɴ pwé hmà | waʔ pʰo̰ | dəjɔ̀ | ʃaɪʔ tʰè | pí laʔ pà | sʰò ɹì | ||
| Arakanese (written) | |||||||||
| Gloss | |||||||||
| English | Mother says "Give me eight pasos for wearing during the Thingyan festival." | ||||||||
Arakanese is written using the Burmese script, which descends from Southern Brahmi. Rakhine speakers are taught Rakhine pronunciations using written Burmese, while most Marma speakers are only literate in Bengali.[4]
The first extant Arakanese inscriptions, the Launggrak Taung Maw inscription and the Mahathi Crocodile Rock inscription (1356), date to the 1300s, and the epigraphic record of Arakanese inscriptions is unevenly distributed between the 1400s to 1800s. In the early 1400s, Arakanese inscriptions began to transition from the square letters associated with stone inscriptions (kyauksa), to rounder letters that is now standard for the Burmese script. This coincided with developments in Arakanese literature, which was stimulated by the rise of Mrauk U during the 1400s.[5]
What is now Rakhine State is home to Sanskrit inscriptions that date from the first millennium to the 1000s. These inscriptions were written in Northern Brahmic scripts (namely Siddham or Gaudi), which are ancestral to the Bengali script. However, these inscriptions are not ancestral to Arakanese epigraphy, which uses the Mon–Burmese script. While some Arakanese have coined the term "Rakkhawunna" to describe a script that predates the usage of written Burmese, there is no contemporary lithic evidence to support the existence of such a script.