Marma Languages

Marmas have their own dialect, which has close resemblance with Burmese and Arakanese. Their written characters is Burmese. Marma language belongs to the Burma-Arakan group within the broad classifications of Tibet-Burma languages. In recent times, Marmas in urban areas and nearby settlements speak the corrupt local language of Chittagonian language. Counting numerals, name of the days, months and years of Marmas are similar to those of the Burmese and Arakanese. They do not have in general any rich literature of their own.

Marm use Tibeto-Burman languages: Tibeto-Burman languages uers community are Achang, Arakanese, Balti, Bantawa, Bisu, Drung, Dzongkha, Garo, Hajong, Hani, Hmar, Jingpho, Karen, Kayah Li, Ladakhi, Lahu, Lepcha, Limbu, Lipo, Lisu, Manipuri, Marma, Mro, Naxi, Nepal Bhasa / Newari, Sikkimese, Sunuwar, Tangkhul Naga, Tibetan, Tshangla, Tujia, Yi etc.

Marma alphabet: The Marma languages written with the Burmese script and alphabet. The community peoples who are use the languages written with the Burmese script are Arakanese, Burmese, Jingpho, Karen, Marma and Palaung. The Marma alphabet are as bellow:

1.      Linguistic Relation among Burmese, Rakhain and Marma:

The linguistic relationship of Burmese, Rakhine and Marma is an inportant for research. Burmese is a Tibeto-Burman (TB), Lolo-Burmese, South Burmish language. Rakhine as part of the Burmish language family. Marma also belongs to the Southern Burmish language family; Rakhine and Marma as dialects of Burmese. All three are spoken primarily in Myanmar and Bangladesh; Burmese is the most well-known language of the Southern Burmish. While much has been documented and written about Burmese, there is not much information available about Rakhine and Marma. The Marma languages of Bangladesh, and some initial observations about the historical relationship between Burmese, Rakhine and Marma are as bellow:

The Burmish language family

Burmese: Burmese is the national language of Myanmar (formerly Burma) the largest country in mainland Southeast Asia; Yangon (formerly Rangoon) is the capital and largest city. There are around 30 million first language (L1) speakers of Burmese, and around 10 million second language (L2) speakers spread throughout the country (Lewis et al. 2014). Burmese is spoken throughout most of Myanmar, and is widely used in central Myanmar.

“Myanmar” is also the official language name of Burmese. Burmese people use “Bama” as an ethnonym for ethnic Burmans and “Myanmar” as an ethnonym to refer to all groups that comprise a part of the country of Myanmar. The spoken form of Burmese is called “Bama” and the written form is called “Myanma” (or Myanmar); in English, both forms of the language are called Burmese. The dialects of Burmese as Beik, Mandalay Burmese, Yangon Burmese and Yaw; Bomang is a version spoken in Bangladesh. The dialect of Yangon Burmese is considered standard (spoken) Burmese. The government uses the High or literary version of Burmese which is older and dissimilar to the spoken Low version; school textbooks are also written in High Burmese. Burmese is written using Myanmar (Burmese) script.

Rakhine: The Rakhine people live mainly in western Myanmar and in southeastern Bangladesh. In Myanmar, they live in Rakhine State and in Chin State. In Rakhine State, Rakhine people live as far south as Gwa, in Thandwe, on the islands of Ramree and Man Aung and extending north up through Sittwe and Mrauk-U to the southeastern border of Bangladesh. In Chin State, they live in Paletwa Township. Rakhine also live in southeastern Bangladesh. In the 18th century, many Rakhine migrated from their homes in Rakhine (Arakan) State, Burma, due to political turmoil; they settled in southeastern Bangladesh and southern Tripura in India. The majority of Rakhine in Bangladesh live in Cox’s Bazar, Patuakhali and Barguna districts. Rakhine is considered a regional dialect of Burmese by many researchers; while others claim it is sufficiently different from standard Burmese to be a separate language. Rakhine pronunciation corresponds more to Written Burmese (WB) than does modern spoken Burmese (SB). Rakhine is one of the officially-recognized large minority groups in Myanmar; it has the second-largest number of speakers there and is used by bout 4.4% of Myanmer’s total population.

In the past, Rakhine were known as Arakanese but since 1989 those in Myanmar are referred to as “Rakhine”. This group has also been called Rakhain, Rakhaing and Rakkhaine in the scholarly literature. In Bangladesh, “Arakanese” who live in the coastal areas are called Rakhine. From the 17th to early in the 20th century, Rakhine speakers in Bangladesh were called Mogh, but this term is no longer used.

Rakhine is used in all but formal domains in Rakhine State; school books are in written Burmese, but children are taught by Rakhine teachers using Rakhine pronunciation. Most Rakhine there speak Burmese as L2; the Rohingya language5 is used as L2 in Buthidaung and Maungdaw townships. In Bangladesh, many Rakhine men use Bengali as L2; other L2s for Rakhine in Bangladesh are Burmese and Chittagonian. In Myanmar, Rakhine is written using Myanmar (Burmese) script, however the script is not standardized and is used informally. A small number of Rakhine speakers in Bangladesh are literate in Burmese script; most Rakhine in Bangladesh are literate only in Bengali. Rakhine children from several communities are becoming literate in Burmese script through their use of Rakhine kindergarten primers.

Marma: Bradley says that the “Mrama are a remnant of the Arakanese court who fled over 200 years ago when the Burmans seized Arakan.” In Bangladesh, “Arakanese” who live in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) are called Marma. In much of the literature Marma is considered a dialect of Burmese virtually identical to Rakhine. In the past, “Mogh” was used for Marma speakers as well as for Rakhine, but it is no longer used, as it is a pejorative term. Kilgo and Moore write about the term Mogh:

In the literature and through the years the Arakanese in Bangladesh have been given many different names including Mogh, Magh, Mugh, etc. For the Bengalis the word Magh (and its various forms) historically signifies a race of pirates who left a bitter memory of plunder and persecution. It is reported that for this reason in the Census sheets of 1951 the “Moghs” requested that they be referred to as Marma...

The Marma are one of the largest and earliest language groups to settle in the CHT. Marma is used as LWC in the Cox’s Bazar and Bandarban districts by several other language groups. In Bangladesh, Marma speak Bengali and Chittagonian as L2; in Rangamati and Khagrachari districts, the Chakma language is an L2 of some Marma. As with Rakhine speakers in Bangladesh, most Marma speakers are only literate in Bengali; literacy in Burmese script among the Marma is also increasing through the use of Marma kindergarten primers.

Marma is a member of the Lolo-Burmese branch of the Tibeto-Burman language family. It is spoken by about 180,600 people in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh, particularly in Rangamati, Bandarban and Khagrachari districts. It is considered one of the dialects of Arakanese, along with Ramree and Sandowa.

2.      Education of the Marma’s:

The Buddhist monk is called “Phongyee”, Temple is “Kyong” and the village is called “Roa” in Marma language. The Phongyee play an important role for the maintenance of traditional education system in the Marma society. The Phongyee give them both spiritual and formal education in the temple. From the child-hood Marma childred receive both religious and linguistic education from their religious teacher in the temple. As a result, compared to other religious groups, the literacy rate among Marmas is very high due to the existence of Phongyee and Buddhist temple in every villages and localities. Every member of the Marma society can read and speak the Burmese fluently. Yet the system is inadequate, for which many boys and girls are found studying in normal schools and colleges in and outside their locality.