Burmese alphabet

• U 1000 U 109 F
• U AA60 -U AA7F

The Burmese script ( Burmese မြန်မာ အက္ခရာ " mranma akkha.ra " ) belongs to the Indian scriptures. As this is an intermediate form of alphabet and syllabary, called Abugida. It is mainly used in Myanmar.

History

Like many other Indian writings, the Burmese script originated in the Brahmi script, which is first documented in the 3rd century BC. From this document, developed in the course of time many regional variants, which differ in part considerably.

In the 8th century AD, a descendant of the Brahmi script was introduced in order to write the assembly language on the territory of present-day Myanmar. As the Burmese immigrated into the area, they took over the writing system of the people of Mon The oldest written documents date from the 11th century AD Over time, today's round writing developed from the original square font. The round writing has its origin in the fact that were used as the medium at the beginning of palm leaves that are damaged when using straight-line pictographs had been ( divided ).

Use

The Burmese script is mainly used for letters of the Burmese language, which is the official language of Myanmar. Numerous minority languages ​​that are spoken in Burmese territory, use derived forms of the Burmese script, which differ in part significantly to these languages ​​include, for example, the Mon, the Shan, Karen numerous languages, the De'ang, and other minor languages. Even the spelling of the Sanskrit is possible in Burmese script.

Principle of operation

The Burmese script is like the other Indian scriptures an intermediate form of alphabet and syllabary, called Abugida. In a Abugida, each consonant has no vowel signs, the inherent vowel " a ", which can be changed by adding vowels, the bond firmly with the consonants. The consonant က thus represents a "ka. " That ကိ contrast, a "ki. ".

The Burmese script is the other Indian scriptures as written horizontally from left to right; a distinction between upper - and lowercase letters does not exist. Individual words are strung together with no space. Vacancies in the text separate parts of sentences from each other. A pause within a sentence is marked by a simple vertical line, the end of a sentence by a double vertical line.

Vowel signs

The left-wing independent vowel signs are used only for vowels without an associated consonant, such as word-initially or after another vowel. If a vowel, however, before together with a consonants, the rightmost combining vowel signs are used which combine with the consonants and form a solid unit. The combining vowel characters are illustrated here using the example of the consonants က "k".

A distinction between short and long vowels no longer takes place in the Burmese script, the corresponding numbers are used instead of labeling the sound.

For the vowel "a", which is also present as part of the vowel mark "au" except for the vowel of the same, there is a second alternative form, which is used with certain consonants ဂ as "g", such as ဂါ "GA"; confusion thereby be minimized since about * ဂာ " ga" just looked like the consonant က "k". Certain languages ​​use only the alternative form.

Consonants

The Burmese script contains 33 consonants. Here, the characters အ is counted as a consonant, although it usually is part of an independent vowel signs. The transliteration is represented in this table without the inherent vowel a, which is normally always present when the consonant has no vowel signs or Asat.

The consonant ည "ny" has an alternative glyph ဉ. This is used when the consonant at the end of a syllable, or is combined with the vowel "a."

Ligatures

Under certain circumstances, two consonants within a cluster, similar to the Tibetan script, are written below each other. The consonants each retain their original shape. So, about the Burmese word ကမ္ဘာ ( " ka.mbha "; earth, world) the consonants written below each other မ "m" and ဘ "bh ". The only exceptions are ဿ "ss" and ဠ ္ ဠ "ll".

, The consonants "Y ", "R ", "W " or "H " is used as part of a consonant cluster form special shapes. However, the pronunciation of these special forms is not unique. It can occur in a syllable several of these forms, such ကျွှ " hkyw ".

Digits

The Burmese script has its own numeric characters.

Romanization

For the transcription of the Burmese in the Latin script, there is no official system. The spelling of Burmese terms, therefore, depends to a large extent on the target language into which is transcribed from. However, are to be found even on Burmese Internet sites use different spellings, such as Tanintharyi - Taninthayi as the name of the Tenasserim Division.

Burmese Unicode

Unicode encodes the Burmese font in Unicode Block Burmese in the code range U 1000 U 109 F. Other characters are in Unicode Block Burmese, extended -A included in the code area U AA60 -U AA7F.

References and sources