The Burmese kinship system is a fairly complex system used to define
family
Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...
in the
Burmese language
Burmese ( my, မြန်မာဘာသာ, MLCTS: ''mranmabhasa'', IPA: ) is a Sino-Tibetan language spoken in Myanmar (also known as Burma), where it is an official language, lingua franca, and the native language of the Burmans, the coun ...
.
In the Burmese kinship system:
*
Maternal
]
A mother is the female parent of a child. A woman may be considered a mother by virtue of having given birth, by raising a child who may or may not be her biological offspring, or by supplying her ovum for fertilisation in the case of gestat ...
and
parental
A parent is a caregiver of the offspring in their own species. In humans, a parent is the caretaker of a child (where "child" refers to offspring, not necessarily age). A ''biological parent'' is a person whose gamete resulted in a child, a male ...
lineages are not distinguished, except for members of the parents' generations.
*Relative age of a sibling relation is considered.
*Gender of the
relative is distinguished.
*Generation from ego is indicated.
History
Many of the kinship terms used in Burmese today are extant or derived from
Old Burmese
Old Burmese was an early form of the Burmese language, as attested in the stone inscriptions of Pagan, and is the oldest phase of Burmese linguistic history. The transition to Middle Burmese occurred in the 16th century. The transition to Middle ...
.
These include the terms used to reference siblings and in-laws.
Grades of kinship
The Burmese kinship system identifies and recognizes six
generation
A generation refers to all of the people born and living at about the same time, regarded collectively. It can also be described as, "the average period, generally considered to be about 20–30 years, during which children are born and gr ...
s of direct ancestors, excluding the ego:
#''Be'' () - great-grandfather's great-grandfather (6 generations removed)
#''Bin'' () - great-grandfather's grandfather (5 generations removed)
#''Bi'' () - great-grandfather's father (4 generations removed)
#''Bay'' () - great-grandfather (3 generations removed)
#''Pho'' () - grandfather (2 generations removed)
#''Phay'' () - father (1 generation removed)
The Burmese kinship system identifies seven generations of direct descendants, excluding the ego:
#''Tha'' () - (1 generation removed)
#''Myi'' () - (2 generations removed)
#''Myit'' () - (3 generations removed)
#''Ti'' () - (4 generations removed)
#''Tut'' () or ''Hmyaw'' () - (5 generations removed)
#''Kyut'' () - (6 generations removed)
#''Hset'' () - (7 generations removed)
Extended family and terminology
Kinship terms differ depending on the degree of formality, courtesy or intimacy. Also, there are regional differences in the terms used.
Common suffixes
*female: (''ma'')
*male: (''hpa'')
Burmese also possesses kin numeratives (in the form of suffixes):
*eldest:
(''gyi'') or
(''oh'')
*second youngest:
(''lat'')
*youngest:
(''lay''),
(''htway''), or
(''nge'')
Relationships
The Burmese kinship system also recognizes various relationships between family members that are not found in English, including:
* (''tu ayi'') - relationship between uncle or aunt and nephew or niece
* (''khami khamet'') - relationship between parents of a married couple
* (''maya nyi-ako'') - relationship between the husbands of two sisters
* (''thami myauk tha'') - relationship between cousins, used in
Arakanese language
, pronunciation =
, ethnicity = Rakhine, Kamein
, states = Myanmar, Bangladesh, India
, region = * Rakhine State (Myanmar)
* Bandarban, Khagrachari, Patuakhali, Barguna (Bangladesh)
* Tripura (India)
, speake ...
Members of the nuclear family
Members of the extended family
References
{{Burmese language
Kinship terminology
Burmese culture
Burmese language