Burmese language

The Burmese language (မြန်မာဘာသာ, MLCTS: myanma bhasa, [bəmà bàðà]) is the official language of Myanmar. Although the Constitution of Myanmar officially recognizes the English name of the language as the Myanmar language, most English speakers continue to refer to the language as Burmese.

Burmese is spoken as a first language by 32 million, primarily the Bamar people and related sub-ethnic groups, and as a second language by 10 million, particularly ethnic minorities in Myanmar and neighboring countries like the Mon.

Burmese is a tonal, pitch-register, and syllable-timed language, largely monosyllabic and analytic language, with a subject–object–verb word order. It is a member of the Lolo-Burmese grouping of the Sino-Tibetan language family.

The Burmese alphabet is thought to be derived from the Mon script, but in any case is descended from Pallava, one of the Brahmic scripts that was adopted and adapted by various Southeast Asian languages (Khmer, Thai, Lao) due to Indian influence.