Burmese script

Origin

The Burmese or Myanmar script developed from the Mon script, which was adapted from a southern Indian script during the 8th century. The earliest known inscriptions in the Burmese script date from the 11th century.

Notable Features

Type of writing system: syllabic alphabet - each letter has an inherent vowel [a]. Other vowels sounds are indicated using separate letters or diacritics which appear above, below, in front of, after or around the consonant.
The rounded appearance of letters is a result of the use of palm leaves as the traditional writing material. Straight lines would have torn the leaves. The Burmese name for the script is ca-lonh 'round script'.
Burmese is a tonal language with three main tones (high, low and creaky) and two other tones (stopped and reduced). The tones are indicates in writing using diacritics or special letters.

Used to write:

Burmese/Myanmar, a member of the Burmese-Lolo group of the Sino-Tibetan language spoken by about 21 million people in Burma (Myanmar).

The Karen languages, a group of languages which are related to Burma and which are are spoken by around 4 million people in Burma and Thailand.

Mon, a member of the Mon-Khmer group of the Austroasiatic languages spoken by something like 200,000 people in Burma and Thailand.

Consonants

Burmese consonants

Vowels and vowel diacritics

Burmese vowels and vowel diacritics

Regular Rhymes

Regular Burmese Rhymes

Numerals

Burmese numerals

Sample Texts in Burmese

Sample text in Burmese (Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)

Translation

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)

Burmese sample text (poem by Let-wè Thondará)

Translation

From Me'-za mountain's jungle foothills,
Washed by the circling river constantly,
My heart, against my will, yearns for the Golden City

by Let-wè Thondará (1723-1800)

Longer sample text (Tower of Babel)

Burmese language courses, etc

Links

Information about the Burmese language
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burmese_alphabet

Online Burmese lessons
http://www.seasite.niu.edu/Burmese/

Free Burmese fonts
http://www.faxtoon.com/docs/bur_font/bur_font.htm
http://www.nandawon.demon.co.uk/burmese-fonts
http://www.seasite.niu.edu/seasite.htm

Online Burmese dictionaries
http://www.salika.co.jp/buruseword.html
http://www.burmese-dictionary.org

Online Burmese radio and news
http://www.voanews.com/burmese/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/burmese/
http://www.rfa.org/burmese/

Other syllabic alphabets

Ahom, Balinese, Batak, Bengali, Brahmi, Buhid, Burmese/Myanmar, Cham, Dehong Dai, Devanagari, Ethiopic, Grantha, Gujarati, Gurmukhi (Punjabi), Hanuno'o, Hmong, Javanese, Kannada, Kharosthi, Khmer, Lanna, Lao, Lepcha, Limbu, Lontara/Makasar, Malayalam, Manpuri, Modi, New Tai Lue, Oriya, Phags-pa, Ranjana, Redjang, Sharda, Siddham, Sinhala, Sorang Sompeng, Soyombo, Syloti Nagri, Tagalog, Tagbanwa, Tamil, Telugu, Thai, Tibetan, Tocharian, Varang Kshiti