Not to be reproduced

bu pht>toprint

THE

VOWEL

or microtifm

aithout

SYSTEMS
AND

willlen

permission

from the publisher

OF ARAKANESE

TAVQYAN

The numerical disparity

tween the vowel phonemes of Burmese and
those of certain closely related dialects. and the different relations which
sometimes obtain between the vowel phonemes and their graphic representation combine to reveal the points at which the equilibrium of each
in this paper 1 shall attemp: to
of these vowel systems is threatened.
compare the vowel systems of Arakanese, Tavoyan and Burmese from
this point of view, in so far as the material at my disposal permits. This
material is ygantier and more uneven than could be desired, and is sometimes,
of necessity, second-hand.)
After comparing the opposition between the vowels of Arakanese and
Burmese, first in open syllables and subsequently in closed syllables,2)
the points at which these two systems are unstable will be indicated. The
attested divergencies between the Tavoyan and Burmese vowel systems
will then be noted, and we shall examine t e written forms used by
Tavoyan students accustomed to speak and write Rangoon Burmese, in

I) The Arakanese

material was gathered

in 1958 at Akyab.

my informants being
Burmese material was
gathered during the same year from students in Rangoon, and supplemented by
information supplied by Tin Tin Myaing, a Burmese from Rangoon living in Paris.
For Tavoyan I am deeply endcbted to an article by U Pe Maung Tin, The dialect of
Tavoy, JBBS, 23, I, 1933. J:n the summer of 1964, since I did not receive permission
from the Burmesegovernment to visit Tavoy or the surrounding district until too late,
I contrrved to collect a certain amount of Tavoyan vrlcabulary and colloquial texts
from Tavoyan students at Rangoon University, students whom I was able to meet

various members of the family of U Tha Aung Phru. The

thanks to U Kyaw Thet, Director of the Historical Commission.

%) I gave my reasons for ,mstldating final consonants in modern Burmese in BSL,
58, 2, 1963, 203ff. The phoneti: and phonological
transcription employed here are
substantially the same as in the BTL paper. The transliteration of the Burmese orthographic forms (here shown in italics), is that of the Epigrophia Birmanica, I, 4, Rangoon,
1919, except that tones are shown as in the Burmese script, and for the digraph ai,
used in the Epigruphiu, I have substituted P.

46U

DENISE

BERNOT

representing their own phonemes, in order to discover what light they

shtid upon the Tavoyan vowel system in closed syllables.
In Arakanese, there are in Upen syllables only two front vowels corresponding to three, viz. /i/, /e/, ,I&/,in Burmese.
Thus we have in Arakanese:

Iw
l

/te/
e
It!

written
written
written

tC
M:
t+

to strike music
song
hut

In Burmese, on the other hand, we have a three-fold phonemic contrast:

.
ItII

ti:

\ .
I te/

te:

ItE I

t2

to strike music
song
hut

Similar sets of examples are the following:

Orthog.
ni
ne
naJ

Ar.
I niI
Ini I
Ine/

Bur.
I niI
IneI
Inc:I

to bc red
to stay
region

chi:
chafi:
the:
chk

Ishi/
/she/
Ishi/
/she/

Ishi/
/shi/
/she/
/shs/

urine
to collect, ar naa,s
drug, tobaccc
to scold, revile

se:

Iv i

s6
se:

eI
10
F,
e
/et
/e/
not used /We/

urine
sand
to be small

Arakanese /I/ covers both the domain of Burmese li/, written i, and, in
the majority of cases, of Burmese /e/, written e. Araka nese /e/ corresponds
to Burmese /E/ when spelt 3 or ay,j al&ii occasionally to IWmese /i/
when the latter is r:presente(d by the spelling ati, [t may be noted in
passing that a number of Burmese words formerly spelt with afi are now
spelt +5or ay and are, moreover, pronounced /s/. This orthogra@ic
a) la the Burmesescript the notation of tonesis inseparable:ior~that af the VW&,
and follows three diRixentsystems,accordingto whether ttks vowelsconcernedale
/a, i, u/ or /e, o/ or /c, a/. Thus it comes about that the notatiw of /IS/may lx either 2
01:ay, dependingupon the tone.

NESE

AND

TAVOYAN

465

development is proportionate to the frequency of occurrence of the word

concerned and simply folbws an earlier pronunciation /E/. The classic
hat sf the final SC& pronounced /tq Cd&]or [r-&l, demonof an initial /O/to/t/, realized as [d] or [r). Nowadays,
aed in Arakaaese
larly to a single

Bur.
Ma!

,thC
it hi/
i na i
/ ns/
hei

ta get yip
to insert
to touch

to suffer
region
to stay

There is a one-to-one correspondence in open syllables between the

back vowels of Arakanese and Burmese. e.g.

Orthog.

At.

PO

fpa/

gui:
pB:

,Poi
IPul

Bur.
3
lPI
/PO/
IPUl

10 be plentiful
o carry on the back
to join, unite
.-

In closed syilables, howc , there are marked differences between the

two dialects. Syllables may
closed either by a stop (glottal in absolute
final position, otherwise at the same place of articulation as the initial
consonmt ofthe fallowing syllable), or by a nasal (velar in absolute final
nit with the initial consonant of the following
position, otherwi
syllable). In syllables closed by a stop or a nasal, the correspondence
between the vowels of Arakanese and Burmese that is found in open
syllables no longer obtains. In ?uch syllables Arakanese has three front
vowels - two diphthongized and the third an open front vowel, [ai], [ei],
fe). They are regarded here as realizations before a final consonant of
the phonemes /a/, /i/ and /e/ respectively.
Thus we have the following oppositions:

DENISE

466
l

BERNOT

Bur.

Ar.
/?a?/ [Pai?]
/?e?/ [?s?]
/?i?/ [?ei?]

/?e?/ [?ei]

cylindrical box
needle
bag

aP
iP

,?a?/ [Zai?]
/?e?/ [?83]
/?i?/ [?ei?]

/?ai?/
/?a?/
/?e?/ [?ei?]

to feel hot
to entrust to
to sleep

uiti
am
im

/?ati/ [?aiIi]
,?eri/ t?Etij
/?iii/ ieiti]

,?airi/
/?ati/
/?eti/ [Peiri]

pond, lake
molar
house

tat
tuik
tat
tit

/ta?/
/ta?/
/te?/
/ti?/

It i?I
/tai?/
It 3,
,tZ?/ [tei?]

to grunt, choke
to push, strike
to know
to be silent

tuirj:
tan:
tim:

,tari/ [tam]
/ten/ [ tsti]
/tin/ [ teiti]

/tain/
/tari/
/ten/ [ teiti]

to measure against
to extend
to bend, incline

Orthog.
ac
aP
it
uik

[tai?]
[tai?]
[ts?]
[tei?]

From the various examples above it can be seen that:

(I) Before a final stop thz triple opposition /a/, /e/, /i/ of Arakanese
corresponds to a quadruple opposition in Burmese, /i/, /ai/, /a/, /e,, two
different spellings being used to represent the single Arakanese phoneme
/a/ and the two Burmese phonemes /i/ and /ai/.
(2) Before a final nasal there is in general a triple opposition in both
Arakanese and Burmese. It is rare in Arakanese that the final palatal
symbol ii entails the pronunciation [ai] in the preceding vowel. Thus
Arakanese /a/, /e/, /i/ correspond to Burmese /ai/, /a/, /e/.
(3) Although it has been stated that there is regularly a similarity
between the front vowels of Arakanese and Burmese in open syllables,
in closed syllablPq we have Arakanese /e/ [E] besLde Burmese /a/ and
Arakanese /a/ [ai] beside Burmese /ii.
Turning to the Arakanese back vowels found before a final consonant
we find an even greater disagreement with Burmese, In this context, the
three back vowels of Arakanese are slightly diphthongized: /a/ [ao],
/o, [m], /u, [ou]. E.g.:

?HE

VOWEL

SYSTEMS

OF ARAKANESE

AND

TAVOYAN

467

to love
brindled
to be thin
khak
khsk
khur

/khe?
!kho?/ [ khau?]
kho?/ [ khou?

chak
chok

:shc?/
/sha?/ [shau?]
/sho?/ [shou?]

to
to
to
to

/shin/
/shaxi, [ shaun 1
ishori, [ shouti]

to descend
to cover over
to end

ChUt

chup
chari:
ChOk

chutil:

to be hard
to knock
to chop
join, unite
build
tear
clenkN

Examples might be multiplied indefinitely without bringing to light

any exceptions to this regular correspondence between the Burmes: and
Arakanese vowel systems on the one: hand, and to their respective
correspondence with orthographic forms on the other. Thus Arak,Anese
/a/ corresponds to orthographic a followed by a Ge.lar symbol, either
k or ri; lo/ corresponds to orthographic o followed by a velar symbol
k or ri; /u/ corresponds to orthographic u followed by a dental symbol,
t or n, or a labial symbol, p or m. Burmese /ii corresponds to orthographic
u followed by the velar nasal symbol ri; Is/ to a followed by the velar
stop symbol k ; /a/ to Qfollowed by a velar symbol k or ri ; /o/ to u followed
by a dental svmbol
t or n, oc a labial symbol, p or m.
r
To complete the picture it must be added that the vowel jcl/alsoexists
in Burmese in closed syllables but that the corresponding Arakanese
form is a sequence of two vowel phonemes of which the first is realized
as a semivowel. Such sequences do not exist in Burmese except in open
syllables. Burmese /u/ before a final consonant corresponds to Arakanese
/ue/ [WE]. Cf.
Orth ,g.
lwm

r!luv6l.

Ar.
/lu?/ [lW&?]
/JW&ri/

Bur.
/lu?/
/juti/

to be free
mud

DENISE

468

BERNOT

The rlesults of the oppositions described above may be summarized in

the following table :
Arakanese
la/ [ai1
/al r.4

/a/ [ail
la/ [ail

Orthographic rendering
a before c
ui before k
Qbefore n(rare)
ui before ri

Burmese
!Ii

I I
/E/ in oden syllables
IaiI

/e/ [Cl

a before t, p
a before n, m

IIa
Iia

/iI ieil
/iI Ceil

i before t, p
i before n, m

lel
/e/

a before k
a before ri

IIE
IV

Id i&l

lo/ bol
lo/ I301

o before k
3 before ri

14 bl
/w Coul

u before t, p
u before n, m

/ue:/[WE]

wa before t, p
WQbefore n, IPZ

/ue/ [WE]

WI
kil

bul
lo/ I34
lo/

/IU

IU I

The points at which the equilibrium, either between the Arakanese

and Burmese vowel systems, or between one of these systems and the
orthography, is unstable, are the following:
Ar. /a/ before a final consonant is spelt in two different ways, whereas
in Burmese there is only one spelling. There is unevenness in the use
made of the two Arakanese spellings. Frequellt use is made of both
spellings before final stops, but only one is in regular use before final
nasals.
The pairs of symbols t, p and n, m are nowadays mere orthographic
variants, long established as such in both Burmese and Arakanese, dnd
since they are found used always in the sa.me way, it is clear that one
cannot point kzre to any latent signs of disetauilibrium.
The instability of the Burmese system is demonstrated, however, by

THE

VOWEL

SYSTEMS

OF ARAKANESE

AND

TAVOYAN

469

(I) the correspondence of Ar. /+ to both Bur. /q (before stops) and /i/
(before nasals); (2) the use of lymbols as different from one another as
c and ri to indicate the same preceding vowel (Bur. /i/), and (3) the existence
in Burmese of /E/ before stops but not before nasals4)
In addition the correspondence of Ar. /ue/ to Bur. lu/ underlines the
disparity in the number of degrees of vocalic opening ih the two systems.
In Arakanese a nasal consonant is found after /i/ in certain phonetic
contexts. We are concerned here with a particular realization of /i, in
open syllables, heard, usually, when the syllabte concerned is in close
juncture with the following syllable. This phenomenon is encountered
when an n or an m precedes the vowel, but not invariably so. Thus,
/nil to be few in the sentence There are few flowers /pen mya ani
[niri] he J1 rej is reaiized with a final nasal.
Although I am unable to account for the fact that this realization [irili
cLanes
t
#WICP
=A
-fit
tt-3; it is
place :111narta;fi
tiG1cQlll
V-s WI&U
IIV, in1.. ntherc
vr.rrrv, 1a An
WY nQt, b&eve
dependent upon the nature of the initial consonant of the following
syllable. In order to stay is /ni [nim] phoj or /ni [nin] lai? pho/,

whereas Stay! is /ni ini]/. It should be noted that in the common

everyday sentence /ni pu re/ it is hot 1 have never heard /nil sun
realized in a way comparable with that described above for /nil stay.
Mother is /?ami/, but parents is /?ami [mim] pha/ or /?ami
[ miri] ?apha/.
These special pronunciations should be viewed alongside the. fact that
to fori:et, spelt ml; in Arakanese, me. in classical Burmese, s realized
as a closed syllable, [mein], in all contexts *HI me: to ask is similarly
pronounced [ mein]?)
We must also note that after /r/ Ar. /i/ is sometin-ies realized as [wi].)
!ve/), is pronounced ci;her [rwi] or [ri],
The word re to c!xmt, (
Bur. 1ye/) is similarly pronounced either
and the word r&:to wnt
[rwi] or [ri], bobn words being distinguislr~~ from rwye: to choose,
(Bur. /yue/), which is pronouncei /rue/ [F-we], by the quality of the
vowel rather than by the pr sence of [WI. Gther Arakanese words
written with the symbol e after w have the vow~zl/e/, not the vowel /i/, e.g.
*) III fact, the modern colloquial Burmese pronunciation of Bur. /in/, spelt ali,
is [&XI].
This transfers the!threat of disequilibrium onto the pair /i?/ (still realized [i?])
and /ifi/ [~fi].
5, Note that the place of articulation of the nasal is liable to vary according to the

nature of the initial consonant of the followingsyllable.

O)The phonetic transcription is impxfkct and does not indicate, for example, that
this [w]is unrounded.

470

DENISE

/rue/
/rue/
/rue/

rwe.

rwe:
rw2 [sic])

BHXNOT

(verbal affix)
to redeem, ransom or to choose
seed used as a weight.

When one takes account of the fact that other Burmese words in which
/e/ follows /yu/ (spelt rw) have no counterparts in Arakanese, it becomes
clear that in the latter there is neutralization of the opposition /r/ - /ru/
before /il.
Insufficient evidence prevents me from asserting that Tavolran has the
same number of vowel phonemes as Burmese. There is particular doubt
about the front vowels, especially /i/, /e/, /&/.
U Pe Maung Tine) notes the change of [e] to [i] after [w], i.e. the
absence of the oppositio? /i/ - /e/ in this context. Cf.
Tav.
[wi]
[khwi]
[nwi]
[ twi]

Bur.
[we]
[khwej
[nwe]
[twe]

to be far
dog
hot season
to find

In the above examples the Tavoyan pronunciation agrees with that of

Arakanese but this is not sufficient to justify the conclusion that the
likeness goes furthe-, znd that Tavcyan has, like Arakanese, only three
front vowel phonemes, /i/, /e/ [e] or [E], and /a/?)
U Pe Maung Tin a& draws attention*) to a fact which makes it
appear improbable that there are in Tavoyan fewer degrees of vocalic
opening in open syllables than in Burmese. To a certain number of
closed syllables in Burmese there correspond open syllables in Tavoyan,
e.g.
Orthog.

Tav.

Bur.

iP

/?i/ [?i.]

/?e?/ [ ?ei?]

it
lip

/?i/[?i]
*I,
/l 1,

/?e?/[?ei?]
/le?/ [ lei?]

tin

/ SiI

/seri/

[ seih]

to sleep
bag
tortoise
diamond

I have also heard Tav. /phyi/ for phrac, *to be, occur (Bur. /phyi?/).
;) In Burmese written rwe: and pronounced /yue/.
) Op. cit., 35.

*9fn the little Tavoyan I heard, I picked out pronunci,ltioms both of [e] and [E),
but I was unable to check, by further investigation, whether these were realizations of
separate phonemes or variants of the same phoneme.
la) Op. cit., 34.

THE VOWEL

SYSTIIMS OF ARAKANESE

AND

TAVOYAN

47!

As regards the back vowels, I have observed that, on the high tone /a/
very frequently corresponds to Bur. /a?/ or /Ml (high tone).
Orthog.
rak

Tav.

Bur.

fua'l
IIYd

lYw[Yau~J

Ok
mrclk

/?iI*/

/?a?/ [?au?]
/mya?/ [ myau?f

ImYU

to reach
under
north

Tin, moreover, notes) that Tav. /u/ plays the same riile
as /i/* for a certain number of open syllables with vowel /i/ in Tavoyan
correspond

to closed syllabks in Burmese, e.g.

tI2lm.

Tav.
!shu/
/mu

Bur.
fsha?/
/mori/

'fhlr'

kkun

ikhul
,
s

/khoti/

to jump

to tear apart

The above correspondences are summarized below:

Orthog.

Tav.

Bur,

it, ip
(ac 1
in, in1
ok
ori

I iI
W)
IIi
I 3 I
I3I

/e?/ [ei?]

ut,

i U'I

/o?/[ou?]

U
Ii

/3Ii/[outi)

up

un, un2

/a?/ [au?]
/xi/ [ auri ]

The conclusion to be drawn from this is clearly chat open syllables are
more numerous in Tavoyan than in Rangoon Burmese, a fact which
increases the risk of confusiotl between vowels in open syllables, and
leads one to suppose that in this position there must be at least as many
degrees of vocalic opening as in Burmese.
In closed syllables the distribution of /ai/ in Tavoyan is as in Arakanese
and Burmese, e.g.

ZUtii

Tav.
/laiij
/taili/

Bur.
/la i?/
/taiti/

AL
/lai?/
/taifi/

to foliow
post

thuifi

/thairi/

/thaihI

/thaifi/

to sit

Orthog.
luik:

II)

Op. cit.,

34.

DENISE BERNOT

472

Tavoyan /a/ is pronounced very front and lightly diphthongized [a&]in

the following:
Bur.

Orthog.

Tav.

*ap
mkat

luau [Yael

/uav

/hma?/ [hmae?]
/pan/ [pa&n]

/hma?/
/pan/

Pan

Ar.
to hait; stand
to note
/pen/ [ ypcri] flower

/rev

WI

The orthographic forms ak and aii of classical Burmese on the other

hand, represent Tavoyan /a?/ [a&], /a,n/ [a&n] in a fair number of cases.
Tavoyan students in Rangoon regularly use the spelling at, up, an, ant,
in accordance with Burmese conventions to represent the Tavoyan
pronunciation of words Pike Ihe foilowing:
Classic%1 Tav.
Ortho .t. Spelling

It av.

Bur.

pa4 Zay

pan lay

tari
bhak
thak

tan
phat
thap

/pari l&/
/tan/

/pin !Ef ocean 9

to put on
side
more than

/PW

/tha?/

U Pe Maung Tin noies /i/12) before final stops, e.g.

Bur.

Ar.

cakkiS

Tav.
/si? ku/ [sikku]

/SE? ku/ [sekku]

PYak

IPYW

!PYW

- IPYW

paper
to be destroyed

I have mvself
heard:
#
chari:
arari

/shiri/

/shiri/

/?ayin/

/?ayiri/

to descend
tirst

Tavoyan back vowe!s in closed syllables are very much at variance

with those of Burmese and Arakanese. There is a very open &phthong
pronounced like But-. [au], which is represented by u: followed bj* 1, p, n
or m in the classical spellingls) and is corrected .by Tavoyan students in
Rangoon to o followed by k or ri, e.g.

Classical

Tav.

Orthog.

Spelling

/UP

acun
alum:

Tav,

Bur.

lok

/Iau?,

/lo?/

acori

/?asaun/
/?alauti/

/?asori/
/?$lori/

a/oh:

12)Op. cit., 35.

I%)Cf. W Pe Maung Tin, op. tit ., 34.

to do
downstream
all

jl
qHE

VOWEL

SYSTEMS

01: ARAKANESE

AND

TAVOYAN

473

d syllables with the vowel ,/aj correspond to

aI in Tavayan (see above). Non-diphthongized /o,f
itied number of cases in Tavoyan, corre[au]. for which the classical spelling ic;o Mowed
by k ar ik Cf.
classical

Tav.

t~~~~~

T,rv.

Bur.

/ klC?rj,

/kMi~

taken

monzte ry
one (animal)

/takatif

Tin also notes the uccurrencr of this /Q/ before a final stop.9
To conclude this account af Tavayan back vowels, there is aI.1/ui in
J $yllabl~s. It is s It in the :;ame way as Brrr. /u/ in closed syllables,
d by f, p, n, m, e.
Classical and
Tav. Spelling
kywn
Ihwiar

-LW.

Rur.

/blri;

/cuIi~

slave

/hlu?/

/hlu?/

to free

Below is a table summarizing the account given above of the Tavovan

I
vowels in closed syllables. Only classical spellings are entered under the
eading Qrthsg.
Tav.
/ai/
.
/all

id CaCl
4 beI
alEN
Ialfad
IIi
IIi
Iaul
/au/
.ol
I0 I
Iu1
IU i

14) Op. cit., 34.

Ckthog.
ui before k
ui before ri
a ibefore1, p
a before n, nl
Q before k

a before ri
u before 1, p
u before n, m
0 beforek
0 before ri
uu before t, p
rtw before n, m

474

DENISE

BERNOT

The table demonstrates the intensive .use made in Tavoyan of certain

orthographic forms (ak, &), which compensates for the absence of the
final c and 5 which are to be,found only in open syllables. The distribution
of the TavoyanSphonemes with reference to the orthographic forms is his
logical as that of the Arakanese phonemes displayed in the table on p. 468 :
a given phoneme is regularly represented by the same orthographic forrri
which is not always the case in Burmese (cp. Tav. /i/). It also emerges
that Iavoyan has six vowel phonemes in closed syllables like Arakanese,
not eight as in Burmese.
It remains to emphasize that this is only a provisional sketch based
upon inadequate material from a variety of sources. Nevertheless, the
general impression gained, namely that the phonological systems of the
dialects are more stable than that of Rangoon Burmese - an impression
which is readily derived from the juxtaposition of the two tables on
pp. 468 and 473, - appears to correspond to the facts.
$
Ecok Nationale des Langues Orientar4s Vivantes,
Paris