ABSTRACT

In Myanmar, over a hundred languages are spoken among the 135 officially defined ethnic groups. The dominant language is Myanmar language, spoken as a mother tongue by over two-thirds of the population and by most others as a second language. The literary and historical form of the name of the country and the language is /myanma/—this has been in every Myanmar language version of the name of the country since independence in 1948. During the British colonial period, Burma was used for the country, Burmese for the language and Burman for the majority ethnic group. The groups who speak the Myanmar language and closely related varieties came from the northeast, probably in the invasion of the Nanzhao Kingdom circa AD 832 which conquered the Pyu kingdoms of the upper Ayeyarwaddy valley and took their territory. Myanmar language has been written with Myanmar script since AD 1112.