Names of Burma
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{{Politics of Myanmar}}
The country popularly known in [[English language|English]] as '''[[Burma]]''', and officially named '''Myanmar''', has undergone [[Geographical renaming|changes]] in both its official name and of the usage of names for it worldwide. The choice of names stems from the existence of two different names for the country in [[Burmese language|Burmese]], which are used in different contexts. The official English name was changed from the Union of Burma to the Union of Myanmar in 1989 by the country's military government, and since then has been the subject of controversy and mixed incidences of adoption.
==Burmese names==
In the [[Burmese language]], Burma is known as either ''Myanma'' ( [[Image:Myanma.svg|ြမန်မာ|40px]] ) or ''Bama'' ( [[Image:Bama.svg|ဗမာ|27px]] ). ''Myanma'' is the written, literary name of the country, while ''Bama'' is the spoken name of the country. Burmese, like [[Javanese language|Javanese]] and other languages of Southeast Asia, has different levels of [[Register (linguistics)|register]], with sharp differences between literary and spoken language.<ref name="Ammon">{{cite book
|title=Sociolinguistics: An International Handbook of the Science of Language and Society
|last=Ammon
|first=Ulrich
|year=2004
|edition=2nd edition
|volume=Volume 3/3
|isbn=3110184184
|pages=page 2012
|publisher=[[Walter de Gruyter]]
|url=http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=LMZm0w0k1c4C&pg=PA2012&sig=ACfU3U3PkjLWTughJ1_1IwE-KwRWdvxu7Q
|accessdate=2008-07-02}}</ref>
The colloquial name ''Bama'' is supposed to have originated from the name ''Myanma'' by shortening of the first syllable (loss of nasal "an", reduced to non-nasal "a", and loss of "y" [[semivowel|glide]]), and then by transformation of "m" into "b". This sound change from "m" to "b" is frequent in colloquial Burmese, and occurs in many other words. Although ''Bama'' may be a later transformation of the name ''Myanma'', both names have been in use alongside each other for centuries.{{Fact|date=July 2008}} However, while ''Bama'' or ''Barma'' were used (by outsiders) to refer to the geographical entity that roughly corresponds to modern Burma, the use of the word ''Myanmar'' was used to identify the people of that ethnic group. King MIngdon Min in the mid 19th century was the first to refer to himself as the king of the 'Myanma People', in an attempt to ethnicize his rule, at a time when his rule was largely confined to the Irrawaddy Valley and the ''Myanmar'' ethnic group.<ref name="thantmyintu2001">{{cite book | first=Thant | last=Myint-U | year=2001 | title=The Making of Modern Burma | id=ISBN 0-521-79914-7}}</ref> Ironically, because of the official renaming of the country, the dominant ethnic group is now known by its colloquial name, ''Bamar'', rather than by its literary name, ''Myanmar''.<ref name="Ammon"/>
The first time the name of the country appeared was in a [[Mon (ethnic group)|Mon]] inscription dated 1102, inside which the name was spelled ''Mirma''. The first record of the name in a Burmese inscription is dated 1190, in which inscription the name was spelled ''Mranma''. Today in Burmese the name is still spelled ''Mranma'', 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 pronounced ''Myanma''. In [[Chinese language|Chinese]], the name appeared for the first time in 1273 and was recorded as 緬 (pronounced "Miǎn" in [[Standard Mandarin|Mandarin]]). This is still the name used by other East Asians, such as the [[Vietnamese language|Vietnamese]] (''Miến Điện'') and [[Japanese language|Japanese]] today. The current name in [[Chinese language|Chinese]] is 緬甸(pronounced Miǎn Diàn).
The etymology of ''Mranma'' remains unclear. One often heard popular etymology of both Burma and Myanmar, which is given official credence in Burma, is that these names come from [[Sanskrit language|Sanskrit]] ''Brahma'',<ref>{{Citation
|url=http://www.therai.org.uk/pubs/at/museums/myanmar.html
|title=Remaking Myanmar and human origins
|author=Gustaaf Houtman
|publisher=Royal Anthropological Institute
|journal=Anthropology Today
|volume=15
|issue=4
|month=August
|year=1999
|pages=13-19
|accessdate=2008-01-27}}</ref> which is the name of the Vedic god of creation [[Brahma]]. This interpretation of the name was spread to India by some Buddhist monks from Ceylon and, although the usage is no longer current, Burma was historically known in India as "Brahma-desh" ("Brahma-land").
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 name ''Myanma'', which had been the name applied to the old Burman kingdom destroyed by the British in the 19th century. In the 1930s, the left-wing independence parties favoured the name ''Bama'', as they thought this name was more inclusive of minorities than ''Myanma''. Indeed, the Burmese puppet state set up by the Japanese occupation forces during the [[Second World War]] was officially called ''Bama''. Curiously, when the Japanese used their own syllabary, they transliterated the three consonants of the English name "Burma" and ended up with the name Baruma. At the time of independence in 1948, the "Republic of Burma" was the name that was chosen for the new country, being further amended as the Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma in 1974, following a military coup in 1962.
Despite the controversy in the years preceding independence, it remains certain that historically (before the 20th century) both the names ''Bama'' and ''Myanma'' referred only to the polities established by Burmese speaking people in the [[Ayeyarwady River|Irrawaddy River]] valley, and neither of these two names included the current minorities of Burma. Historically, there has never been a name for the whole country Burma, which is in part a creation of the British colonial authorities, who annexed to their colony of Burma some peripheral areas (inhabited by non-Burmese speaking people) which had never been part of the old Burman kingdom.
==English names==
===History===
In English, the name officially 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 from [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]] ''Birmania'' and was adopted by English in the 18th century. The Portuguese name itself came from the Indian name ''Barma'' which was borrowed by the Portuguese from any of the Indian languages in the 16th or 17th century. This Indian name ''Barma'' may derive from colloquial Burmese ''Bama'', but it may also derive from the Indian name ''Brahma-desh''; it is not possible to say with certainty.
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, in order to discard spellings chosen by British colonial authorities in the 19th century, and adopt spellings closer to the actual Burmese pronunciation (compare with [[Indian renaming controversy|what happened in India]] with Calcutta/[[Kolkata]]). Thus, for instance, Rangoon was changed to [[Yangon]] to reflect the fact that the "r" sound was abandoned long ago in Burmese and replaced with a "y" glide.
As for the country's name, the commission decided to replace the English name "Burma" with "Myanmar". There were three reasons for that. First, ''Myanma'' is the official name of the country in the Burmese language, and the aim of the commission was to have English place names aligned with Burmese place names and pronunciation. Second, the military thought that the name ''Myanma'' was more inclusive of minorities than the name ''Bama'', and so they wanted the English name of the country to reflect this. Finally, the military regime has long been suspicious of the colloquial Burmese language, which it perceives as subversive. The regime is promoting the literary language, and so it wanted to get rid of the English name "Burma" which mirrors the colloquial Burmese name ''Bama''.
The final "r" in English "Myanmar" is absent in Burmese ''Myanma'' (much as the medial "r" in "Burma" is absent in standard Burmese ''Bama''). The reason why the commission added a final "r" in English was to represent the low tone of Burmese, in which the word ''Myanma'' is pronounced. In the low tone, the final vowel "a" is lengthened. The commission was influenced by [[Received Pronunciation]] and other [[Rhotic and non-rhotic accents|non-rhotic]] [[English 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.
===Controversies===
In the Burmese language, there have been controversies about the name of the country since the 1930s, but the decision of the military regime in 1989 carried the controversy into the English language. Although the military regime thinks that ''Myanma'' is more inclusive of minorities than ''Bama'', it was shown above that historically this is not true, ''Myanma'' being only a more literary version of ''Bama''. Quite the opposite of being more inclusive, opposition parties and human rights groups contend that the new English name "Myanmar" is actually disrespectful of the minorities of Burma. 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.
It should be remembered that the military regime did not change the official name of the country in Burmese, but merely changed the name of the country in English. Opposition leader [[Aung San Suu Kyi]] at first opposed the new name "Myanmar", pointing out the hypocritical justification of inclusiveness put forward by the military regime. Opposition parties, although they oppose the English name "Myanmar", do not oppose the official Burmese name ''Myanma'', and no opposition party is proposing to use the colloquial name ''Bama'' as the official name of the country.
Finally, a lot of criticism also focused on the lack of scientific 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. The new names adopted often lacked serious scientific credibility, and some appear quite bizarre. The final "r" at the end of the name Myanmar is an example of these oddities adopted by the commission. However, as in [[Oxford English]] orthography, the "r" indicates lengthening of the vowel. Thus, the work of the commission cannot be compared with the serious scientific work of, say, the scientific panel that created the [[pinyin]] alphabet in the People's Republic of China. In many cases, the new names adopted by the commission are not helping foreigners to pronounce Burmese place names closer to actual Burmese pronunciation, and they only make things more complicated by creating a new set of names alongside the older names.
====Adoption====
Since the 1989 decision to change the English name from "Burma" to "Myanmar", adoption of the new name in the English-speaking world has been mixed. Use of "Burma" has remained widespread, largely based on the question of whether the military regime, not democratically elected, has the legitimacy to change the country's name.<ref name="Singer">{{cite news
|url=http://www.theconservativevoice.com/article/28354.html
|title=Myanmar and Israel - Fighting the Semantic Wars
|last=Singer
|first=David
|date=2007-10-02
|work=The Conservative Voice
|accessdate=2008-06-08}}</ref>
Governments of English speaking countries including the [[United States]], the [[United Kingdom]], [[Australia]] and [[Canada]] still refer to the country as "Burma".<ref name="Singer" /><ref name="Scrivener" /> The United States government attributes its choice to support for the government elected in 1990 but denied power by the junta, which opposes the new name.<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/35910.htm
|title=Background Note: Burma
|author=Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs
|year=2007
|month=December
|publisher=U.S. Department of State
|accessdate=2008-06-08}}</ref> The British government also cites the elected party's preference in its statement on its choice of name.<ref name="FCO">{{cite web
|url=http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/about-the-fco/country-profiles/asia-oceania/burma/
|title=Country Profile: Burma
|author=[[Foreign and Commonwealth Office]]
|date=2008-06-03
|accessdate=2008-06-08
}}</ref> A spokesman for Foreign Affairs in Canada said that his government's choice was "in support of the struggle for democracy".<ref name="Scrivener">{{cite news
|url=http://www.thestar.com/article/264116
|title=The Burma question
|last=Scrivener
|first=Leslie
|date=2007-10-06
|work=TheStar.com}}</ref> Others, including the [[Association of Southeast Asian Nations]] and the governments of [[Germany]], [[France]],<ref name="Deutsche Welle" /> [[Japan]],<ref name="BBC">{{cite news
|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7013943.stm
|title=Should it be Burma or Myanmar?
|date=2007-09-26
|work=Magazine
|publisher=[[BBC News Online]]
|accessdate=2008-07-02}}</ref> [[People's Republic of China|China]] and [[Russia]]<ref name="Singer" /> recognise "Myanmar" as the offical name. The [[United Nations]], of which Myanmar is a member, endorsed the name change five days after its announcement by the junta.<ref name="Scrivener" /> The [[European Union]] uses "Burma/Myanmar".<ref name="Deutsche Welle">{{cite news
|url=http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,2804762,00.html
|title=Burma vs. Myanmar: What's in a Name
|date=2007-10-01
|work=[[Deutsche Welle]]
|accessdate=2008-06-08
}}</ref>
During the 2005 [[ASEAN]] summit in [[Thailand]], the Foreign Minister [[Nyan Win]] complained about the U.S. insistence of calling his country "Burma" instead of "Myanmar" as the ruling junta renamed it more than a decade ago.<ref name="Crisscross">{{cite news
|url=http://archive.japantoday.com/jp/news/344901
|archiveurl=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0WDQ/is_2005_August_1/ai_n14940475
|archivedate=2004-08-01
|title=Myanmar foreign minister protests U.S. use of name 'Burma'
|publisher=Crisscross News
|date=2005-08-01
|accessdate=2008-06-08 }}</ref>
Media usage is also mixed. In spite of the usage by the US government, American news outlets including ''[[The New York Times]]'', ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]'', The ''[[International Herald Tribune]]'' and [[CNN]], and US-based international news agencies the [[Associated Press]] and [[Reuters]] have adopted the name "Myanmar". Others do still use Burma, including [[Voice of America]], ''[[The Washington Post]]'', and ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]''.<ref name="Singer" /><ref name="Deutsche Welle" /> Canada's ''[[National Post]]'' also uses Myanmar in spite of the Canadian governement's usage. Other sources often use terms such as "Burma, also known as Myanmar".<ref name="Scrivener" />
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.<ref name="Steinberg">{{cite book
|title=Burma: The State of Myanmar
|last=Steinberg
|first=David I.
|year=2001
|isbn=0878408932
|pages=page xi
|publisher=[[Georgetown University Press]]
|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=CSTuWZ0BMmMC&pg=PR11&sig=ACfU3U3WECt2tw7rI-uNmjSC_6IjuyY2dg
|accessdate=2008-07-03}}</ref>
==Adjective oddities==
According to the government sponsored naming pattern, the country is known as "Myanmar" in English. The adjective derived from the country's name is "Myanma" (no final "r"). In Burmese, the word ''Myanma'', when used as a noun, is pronounced in the low tone (long "a"), whereas when used as an adjective, it is pronounced in the creaky tone (short "a"). To reflect this, the 1989 commission decided to drop the final "r" in the English adjective "Myanma" (since the final "r" indicates lengthening in Oxford English). Most people, even in Myanmar, are unaware of these subtleties, and so we find both "Myanma Airways" (correct spelling) and "Myanmar Airways" (incorrect spelling, but used officially anyway). Some English speakers have even coined the adjective "Myanmarian" or "Myanmarese", to follow English rather than Burmese grammatical rules, which has no official recognition inside Burma.
Again according to the official government naming pattern, the name of the dominant ethnicity of Myanmar, 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 the Bamars plus many minorities. The Bamars and the minorities are all known as Myanma people.
In common English usage, the country is known as "Burma". In British usage, inhabitants of Burma, no matter what their ethnicity, are known as Burmese, while the dominant ethnicity (speaking Burmese) is known as "Burmans". 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 the [[Tibeto-Burman languages|Tibeto-"Burman" languages]]. In American usage, the meaning of Burmese and Burman are often the opposite of British usage: Burman refers to all the people of Myanmar, while Burmese refers specifically to the Burmese speaking ethnicity dominating the country.
Note that the Myanma Language Commission's position on the name of the country in English ("Myanmar", which it says includes all the peoples of the country) is inconsistent with its position on the name of the language ("Myanma", which is only spoken by the Burmans, not the other peoples)—another reflection of the fact that the Commission was not presided over by linguists.
Correspondence of Myanmar government usage and British usage:
*Myanmar (n.) = Burma
*Myanma (adj.) = Burmese
*Bamar (n.) = Burman
*Bama (adj.) = Burman
==References==
{{Portal|Current events/Southeast Asia}}
{{reflist}}
==External links==
*[http://www.asiaexplorers.com/myanmar/index.htm Information on Burma and the name change] - Asiaexplorers.com
*[http://burmalibrary.org/reg.burma/archives/199912/msg00625.html Article on Burma and the name change] - ''[[The Nation]]''
*[http://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/contextualize.pl?p.0.hobson.715513 Hobson-Jobson Dictionary entry on ''Burma'']
*[http://faroutliers.blogspot.com/2007/09/etymologically-myanmar-burma-round-two.html Quote on meaning and etymology of ''Burma'' and ''Myanmar'': Bertil Lintner, in Ethnicity in Asia, ed. by Colin Mackerras (RoutledgeCurzon, 2003), p. 174]
*[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7013943.stm BBC:Should it be Burma or Myanmar?]
[[Category:Country name etymology|Burma]]
[[Category:Geographical naming disputes]]
[[Category:Geography of Burma]]
[[es:Nombres de Birmania]]
[[eo:Nomoj de Birmo/Mjanmao]]
[[fr:Birmanie#D.C3.A9nomination]]