Romanization In linguistics, romanization is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Latin script, Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, and tra ...

of the

Burmese alphabet The Burmese alphabet (, MLCTS: ''mranma akkha.ya'', ) is an abugida used for writing Burmese, based on the Mon–Burmese script. It is ultimately adapted from a Brahmic script, either the Kadamba or Pallava alphabet of South India. The ...

is representation of the

Burmese language Burmese (; ) is a Tibeto-Burman languages, Tibeto-Burman language spoken in Myanmar, where it is the official language, lingua franca, and the native language of the Bamar people, Bamar, the country's largest ethnic group. Burmese dialects are a ...

Burmese names Burmese names () lack the serial structure of most Western names. Like other Mainland Southeast Asian people (except Vietnamese), the people of Myanmar have no customary matronymic or patronymic naming system and no tradition of surnames. Alt ...

in the

Latin alphabet The Latin alphabet, also known as the Roman alphabet, is the collection of letters originally used by the Ancient Rome, ancient Romans to write the Latin language. Largely unaltered except several letters splitting—i.e. from , and from � ...

Official transcription systems

The MLC

romanization In linguistics, romanization is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Latin script, Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, and tra ...

system (1980) is promoted inside Myanmar. Inside and outside Myanmar several other systems may also be used. Replicating Burmese sounds in the Latin script is complicated. * MLC Transcription System (MLCTS), of the Myanmar Language Commission is the government recommended transliteration system for rendering Burmese in the Latin alphabet. This system is used in many linguistic publications regarding Burmese, and is used in all MLC publications as the primary form of transcription for Burmese. It is loosely based on the widely accepted academic romanization of Pali, and has some similarities to the Library of Congress'

ALA-LC Romanization ALA-LC (American Library AssociationLibrary of Congress) is a set of standards for romanization, the representation of text in other writing systems using the Latin script. Applications The system is used to represent bibliographic information by ...

index system for Burmese publications. MLCTS transcribes sounds in formal Burmese and is based on the

orthography An orthography is a set of convention (norm), conventions for writing a language, including norms of spelling, punctuation, Word#Word boundaries, word boundaries, capitalization, hyphenation, and Emphasis (typography), emphasis. Most national ...

rather than the

phonology Phonology (formerly also phonemics or phonematics: "phonemics ''n.'' 'obsolescent''1. Any procedure for identifying the phonemes of a language from a corpus of data. 2. (formerly also phonematics) A former synonym for phonology, often pre ...

. * BGN/PCGN romanization of Burmese (1970) is the BGN/PCGN romanization adopted by the

United States Board on Geographic Names The United States Board on Geographic Names (BGN) is a Federal government of the United States, federal body operating under the United States Secretary of the Interior. The purpose of the board is to establish and maintain uniform usage of geogr ...

(BGN) and the Permanent Committee on Geographical Names for British Official Use (PCGN). *

ALA-LC romanization ALA-LC (American Library AssociationLibrary of Congress) is a set of standards for romanization, the representation of text in other writing systems using the Latin script. Applications The system is used to represent bibliographic information by ...

for Burmese is used by the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

for cataloguing Burmese language book holdings.

Academic and language-teaching transcription systems

Academic and language-teaching transcription systems include: * Mendelson's system: i.e. E. Michael Mendelson (1975) * Cornyn-Roop system: i.e. William S. Cornyn, D. Haigh Roop ''Beginning Burmese'' (1968) * John Okell ''A Guide to the Romanization of Burmese'' (2002) - conventional transcription with accented tones * Minn Latt ''The Prague method romanization of Burmese'' (1958) - this method was created as the author was teaching Burmese in Charles University in Prague. It is based on William S. Cornyn's system (1944).Minn Latt. The Prague method romanization of Burmese. In ''Archiv Orientální: journal of the Czechoslovak Oriental Institute, Prague'', 26, 1958, pp. 145-167.

Personal names

Several colloquial transcription systems have been proposed, but none is overwhelmingly preferred over others. Transcription of Burmese is not standardized, as seen in the varying English transcriptions of Burmese names. For instance, a Burmese personal name like () may be variously romanized as Win, Winn, Wyn, or Wynn, while () may be romanized as Khaing, Khine, or Khain.

References

{{Burmese language Burmese Burmese language