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Burmese

Sino-Tibetan Languages

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

Facts
ISO 639-3 Code
mya 2
Speaker Count
32,900,000 2
2019 estimate, first-language speakers (10 million second-language speakers; 42.9 million total).
Status
Living 2
Wikipedia article on Burmese: a currently spoken living language with an active native-speaker population; checked 2026-09-27.
Attested From (Year)
from 1001 6
Region
Myanmar, Thailand, China (Dehong), India (Mizoram, Manipur and Tripura), Bangladesh (Chittagong Hill Tracts and Barisal Division) 2
Browse and compare
Word Order
SOV 3
Tone
Tonal 4
Difficulty for an English Speaker
Category IV 5
Classification
Language Kind
Safe 1
Official Status
Co-Official Language 2
Connections

In Family

Sino-Tibetan, Language Families
Source Wikipedia: Burmese Language

Written In

Burmese Script, Scripts
Source Wikipedia: Burmese Script
In the Other Atlases

Cases Where Used

Radio Veritas Asia

Also in Divinity Atlas: used in this subject.

Found In

Asia

Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.

Sources
1. Glottolog: Burmese (Glottolog languoid nucl1310)
GlottologEndangerment, AES status
Quote, Endangerment, AES status
AES status: not endangered
View the Source
2. Wikipedia: Burmese Language
Wikimedia Foundation
  • Lead section
    Burmese is a Tibeto-Burman language spoken in Myanmar, where it is the official language, lingua franca, and the native language of the Bamar, the country's largest ethnic group.
  • Infobox, ISO 639-3
    mya
  • Lead section
    In 2019, Burmese was spoken by 42.9 million people globally, including by 32.9 million speakers as a first language and 10 million as a second language.
  • Infobox: region
    Myanmar, Thailand, China (Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture, Dehong), India (Mizoram, Manipur and Tripura), Bangladesh (Chittagong Hill Tracts and Barisal Division)
  • Official status, Burmese entity page
    The Constitution of Myanmar officially refers to it as the Myanmar language in English, though most English speakers continue to refer to the language as Burmese, after Burma-a name with co-official status until 1989.
  • In Family: Sino-Tibetan, Infobox, Language family
    Top family: Sino-Tibetan; immediate branch: Lolo-Burmese (within Tibeto-Burman).
View the Source
3. WALS Online (World Atlas of Language Structures): Burmese / Order of Subject, Object and Verb (WALS datapoint)
WALS Online (World Atlas of Language Structures)Datapoint page
Quote, Datapoint page
Feature: Order of Subject, Object and Verb by Matthew S. Dryer Value: SOV
View the Source
4. WALS Online (World Atlas of Language Structures): Burmese / Tone (WALS datapoint)
WALS Online (World Atlas of Language Structures)Datapoint page
Quote, Datapoint page
Feature: Tone by Ian Maddieson Value: Complex tone system
View the Source
5. Effective Language Learning: Language Difficulty Ranking
Effective Language LearningForeign Service Institute categories list
Quote, Foreign Service Institute categories list
Category IV: 44 weeks (1100 hours) Languages with significant linguistic and/or cultural differences from English Albanian Amharic Armenian Azerbaijani Bengali Bosnian Bulgarian Burmese
View the Source
6. Omniglot: Burmese language, alphabet and pronunciation
OmniglotLanguage at a glance
Quote, Language at a glance
First written : 11th century
View the Source
Wikipedia: Burmese Script
Written In: Burmese ScriptView the Source
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