Rohingya (/roʊˈɪndʒə, -hɪn-, -ɪŋjə/),[2] also known as Ruáingga (Hanifi Rohingya: 𐴌𐴗𐴥𐴝𐴙𐴚𐴒𐴙𐴝; pronounced [rʊˈɜiɲɟə]), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Rohingya people of Rakhine State, Myanmar.[3][4] It is an Eastern Indo-Aryan language belonging to the Bengali–Assamese branch, and is closely related to the Chittagonian language spoken in neighbouring Bangladesh. The Rohingya and Chittagonian languages have a high degree of mutual intelligibility.[5]
Rohingya | |
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![]() The word "Rohingya" written in the Hanifi Rohingya script | |
Native to | Myanmar (Rakhine State) |
Region | Rakhine State (Myanmar) and southeastern Chittagong Division (Bangladesh) |
Ethnicity | Rohingya |
Native speakers | 1.8 million (2012)[1] |
Language family | |
Writing system | Hanifi Rohingya, Perso-Arabic, Burmese, Latin, Bengali–Assamese (rare) |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | rhg |
Glottolog | rohi1238 |
![]() Traditional area of Rohingya speakers | |
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. |
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Rohingya people |
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Rohingya has primarily the following 25 native consonant phonemes. There are some other consonant phonemes which are from foreign languages such as Arabic, Bengali, Burmese and Urdu.
Labial | Dental/ Alveolar |
Retroflex | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Plosive | voiceless | p | t | ʈ | tʃ | k | ʔ |
voiced | b | d | ɖ | dʒ | ɡ | ||
Nasal | m | n | (ɳ) | ɲ | ŋ | ||
Fricative | voiceless | f | s | ʃ | x | h | |
voiced | (v) | z | |||||
Flap | ɾ | ɽ | |||||
Approximant | central | w | j | ||||
lateral | l |
Front | Back | |
---|---|---|
Close | i | u |
Close-mid | e | o |
Open-mid | ɔ | |
Open | a |
There are six vowels and several diphthongs in the Rohingya language.[8] They contrast between "open-o" ([ɔ]) and "closed-o" ([o]) by using the different spellings ⟨o⟩/⟨ó⟩ and ⟨ou⟩/⟨óu⟩ respectively.
Accented vowels, marked with an acute accent, represent stressed (or "hard" vowels), and repeating a vowel lengthens it.[6] Thus, tonals are marked by arranging the location of a stressed vowel in a lengthened pair, like ⟨aá⟩ and ⟨áa⟩.[6]
1. If a noun ends with a vowel then the article is either án or wá if singular, or ún or ín if plural or uncountable.
Usually wá is used for round-fatty objects, and án for flat-thin objects.
singular | plural | ||
---|---|---|---|
Kéti án | (the farm) | Kéti ún/ín | (the farms) |
Fothú án | (the photo) | Fothú ún/ín | (the photo) |
Fata wá | (the leaf) | Fata ún/ín | (the leaves) |
Boro wá | (the large tree) | Boro ún/ín | (the large trees) |
Lou ún/ín | (the blood) |
2. If a noun ends with a consonant then the article is the end-consonant plus án or wá for singular or ún or ín for plural.
Debal lán | (the wall) | Debal lún/lín | (the walls) |
Mes sán | (the table) | Mes sún/sín | (the tables) |
Kitap pwá | (the book) | Kitap pún/pín | (the books) |
Manúic cwá | (the man) | Manúic cún/cín | (the men) |
3. If a noun ends with r, then the article is g plus án or wá for singular or ún or ín for plural.
gún is used for human and gín for non-human.
Tar gán | (the wire) | Tar gún/gín | (the wires) |
Duar gán | (the door) | Duar gún/gín | (the doors) |
Kuñir gwá | (the dog) | Kuñir gún/gín | (the dogs) |
Faár gwá | (the mountain) | Faár gún/gín | (the mountains) |
Indefinite articles can be used either before or after the noun. Uggwá usually is used for roll/round/fatty shaped objects and ekkán is for thin/flat shaped objects.
singular | plural | ||
---|---|---|---|
Uggwá fata | (a leaf) | Hodún fata | (some leaves) |
Ekkán fothú | (a picture) | Hodún Fothú | (some pictures) |
-or- | -or- | ||
Fata uggwá | (a leaf) | Fata hodún | (some leaves) |
Fothú ekkán | (a picture) | Fothú hodún | (some pictures) |
Rohingya word order-1 is Subject–Object–Verb.
Añí
I
bát
rice
hái
eat.
Añí bát hái
I rice eat.
Ite
He
TV
TV
saá
watches.
Ite TV saá
He TV watches.
Ibá
She
sairkél
bicycle
soré
rides.
Ibá sairkél soré
She bicycle rides.
Itará
They
ham ot
to work
za
go.
Itará {ham ot} za
They {to work} go.
Rohingya word order-2 is Subject–Time-Place-Object–Verb.
Ibá
I
beínna
in the morning
gór ot
at home
bát
rice
há
eat.
Ibá beínna {gór ot} bát há
I {in the morning} {at home} rice eat.
Tará
They
biale
at night
duan ot
at shop
TV
TV
saá
watches.
Tará biale {duan ot} TV saá
They {at night} {at shop} TV watches.
Ite
He
sair gwá báze
at 4pm
hál hañsat
at seaside
sairkél
bicycle
soré
rides.
Ite {sair gwá báze} {hál hañsat} sairkél soré
He {at 4pm} {at seaside} bicycle rides.
Ítara
They
nowá báze
at 9 o'clock
ofís ot
to office
ham ot
to work
zaa
go.
Ítara {nowá báze} {ofís ot} {ham ot} zaa
They {at 9 o'clock} {to office} {to work} go.
Rohingya word order-3 is Subject–Time-[adjective]-Place-Object–[adverb]-Verb.
Tuñí
Subject
You
aijja
Time
today
noya
[Adjective]
new
eskul ot
Place
at school
toratori/toratorigorí
[Adverb]
quickly
paathi
Object
party
goró.
Verb
make.
Tuñí aijja noya {eskul ot} toratori/toratorigorí paathi goró.
Subject Time [Adjective] Place [Adverb] Object Verb
You today new {at school} quickly party make.
Rohingya word order-4 is Subject–Time-[adjective]-Place-Object–[adverb]-Verb_1-Verb_2.
Tuñí
Subject
You
aijja
Time
today
noya
[Adjective]
new
eskul ot
Place
at school
toratori/toratorigorí
[Adverb]
quickly
paathi
Object
party
goittóu
Verb_1
help
modot-goró.
Verb_2
to make.
Tuñí aijja noya {eskul ot} toratori/toratorigorí paathi goittóu modot-goró.
Subject Time [Adjective] Place [Adverb] Object Verb_1 Verb_2
You today new {at school} quickly party help {to make}.
You help to make party quickly at new school today.
More on Time extension:
Rohingya distinguishes 3 tenses and 4 aspects, as shown in the examples below. In these tenses, the helping verb félai shows perfect action (comparable to English "has/have") and félaat shows perfect continuous action (compare English "has/have been"). The helping verb táki and táikki are comparable to English "be" and "been".
Verb-form-suffix (basic and/or helping verb) indicate both person and tense. The suffixes ~ir, ~yi, ~lám, ~youm are used for the first person, the suffixes ~or, ~yó, ~lá, ~bá for the 2nd person, and the suffixes ~ar, ~ye, ~l, ~bou for the 3rd person.
Similarly ~ir, ~or, ~ar indicate present continuous tense, ~yi, ~yó, ~ye present perfect tense, ~lám, ~lá, ~l past tense, and ~youm, ~bá, ~bou future tense.
1st person | 2nd person | 3rd person | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
present | simple present | Añí hái. Añí hái. I eat. |
Tuñí/Oñne Tui hóo. hós. Tuñí/Oñne hóo. Tui hós. You eat. |
Ite/Ibá/Itará há. Ite/Ibá/Itará há. He/She/They eats/eats/eat. |
present progressive | Añí háir. Añí háir. I am eating. |
Tuñí/Oñne Tui hóor. hóor. Tuñí/Oñne hóor. Tui hóor. You are eating. |
Ite/Ibá/Itará hár. Ite/Ibá/Itará hár. He/She/They is/is/are eating. Ite/Ibá/Itará hái boi. Ite/Ibá/Itará hái boi. He/She/They is/is/are eating. | |
perfect | Añí hái félaiyi. Añí hái félaiyi. I have eaten. |
Tuñí/Oñne Tui hái hái félaiyó. félaiyós. Tuñí/Oñne hái félaiyó. Tui hái félaiyós. You have eaten. |
Ite/Ibá/Itará hái félaiye. Ite/Ibá/Itará hái félaiye. He/She/They has/has/have eaten. | |
perfect continuous | Añí hái félair. Añí hái félair. I have been eating. |
Tuñí/Oñne Tui hái hái féloor. féloor. Tuñí/Oñne hái féloor. Tui hái féloor. You have been eating. |
Ite/Ibá/Itará hái félaar. Ite/Ibá/Itará hái félaar. He/She/They has/has/have been eating. | |
Past | near past | Añí háiyi. Añí háiyi. I ate. |
Tuñí/Oñne Tui háiyo. háiyós. Tuñí/Oñne háiyo. Tui háiyós. You ate. |
Ite/Ibá/Itará háaiye. Ite/Ibá/Itará háaiye. He/She/They ate. |
far past | Añí háailam. Añí háailam. I ate. |
Tuñí/Oñne Tui háailá. háailí. Tuñí/Oñne háailá. Tui háailí. You ate. |
Ite/Ibá/Itará háail. Ite/Ibá/Itará háail. He/She/They ate. | |
past progressive | Añí háat táikkilám. Añí háat táikkilám. I was eating. |
Tuñí/Oñne Tui háat háat táikkilá. táikkilí. Tuñí/Oñne háat táikkilá. Tui háat táikkilí. You were eating. |
Ite/Ibá/Itará háat táikkil. Ite/Ibá/Itará háat táikkil. He/She/They was/was/were eating. | |
perfect | Añí hái félailám. Añí hái félailám. I had eaten. |
Tuñí/Oñne Tui hái hái félailá. félailí. Tuñí/Oñne hái félailá. Tui hái félailí. You had eaten. |
Ite/Ibá/Itará hái félail. Ite/Ibá/Itará hái félail. He/She/They had eaten. | |
perfect continuous | Añí hái félaat táikkilám. Añí hái félaat táikkilám. I had been eating. |
Tuñí/Oñne Tui hái hái félaat félaat táikkilá. táikkilí. Tuñí/Oñne hái félaat táikkilá. Tui hái félaat táikkilí. You had been eating. |
Ite/Ibá/Itará hái félaat táikkil. Ite/Ibá/Itará hái félaat táikkil. He/She/They had been eating. | |
Future | simple future | Añí háiyoum. Añí háiyoum. I will eat. |
Tuñí/Oñne Tui háiba. háibí. Tuñí/Oñne háiba. Tui háibí. You will eat. |
Ite/Ibá/Itará háibou. Ite/Ibá/Itará háibou. He/She/They will eat. |
future progressive | Añí háat tákiyoum. Añí háat tákiyoum. I will be eating. Añí háiyoum boi. Añí háiyoum boi. I will be eating. |
Tuñí/Oñne Tui háat háat tákibá. tákibí. Tuñí/Oñne háat tákibá. Tui háat tákibí. You will be eating. Tuñí/Oñne Tui háiba háibi goi. goi. Tuñí/Oñne háiba goi. Tui háibi goi. You will be eating. |
Ite/Ibá/Itará háat tákibou. Ite/Ibá/Itará háat tákibou. He/She/They will be eating. Ite/Ibá/Itará háibou goi. Ite/Ibá/Itará háibou goi. He/She/They will be eating. | |
perfect | Añí hái félaiyoum. Añí hái félaiyoum. I will have eaten. |
Tuñí/Oñne Tui hái hái félaibá. félaibí. Tuñí/Oñne hái félaibá. Tui hái félaibí. You will have eaten. |
Ite/Ibá/Itará hái félaibou. Ite/Ibá/Itará hái félaibou. He/She/They will has/has/have eaten. | |
perfect continuous | Añí hái félaat tákiyoum. Añí hái félaat tákiyoum. I will have been eating. |
Tuñí/Oñne Tui hái hái félaat félaat tákibá. tákibí. Tuñí/Oñne hái félaat tákibá. Tui hái félaat tákibí. You will have been eating. |
Ite/Ibá/Itará hái félaat tákibou. Ite/Ibá/Itará hái félaat tákibou. He/She/They will has/has/have been eating. |
Number | Person | Gender | Pronouns | Possessive adjectives | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Subject | Object | Possessive | Reflexive | ||||
Singular | 1st | m/f (I) | añí, mui | añáre, moré | añár, mor | añínize, muinize | añár, mor |
2nd | m/f (you) | tuñí tui oñne | tuáñre toré oñnoré | tuáñr tor oñnor | tuñínize tuinize oñnenize | tuáñr tor oñnor | |
3rd | m (he) | ite * te * uite ** íte ** | itaré taré uitaré ítare | itar tar uitar ítar | itenize tenize uitenize ítenize | itar tar uitar ítar | |
m/f (he/she) | ibá * uibá ** íba ** | ibáre uibáre íbare | ibár uibár íbar | ibánize uibánize íbanize | ibár uibár íbar | ||
n (it) | yián ibá yían ** íba ** | yiánóre ibáre yíanóre íbare | yiánór ibár yíanór íbar | yiánnize ibánize yíannize íbanize | yiánór ibár yíanór íbar | ||
Plural | 1st | m/f (we) | añára | añáráre | añárar | añáránize | añárar |
2nd | m/f (you) | tuáñra | tuáñráre | tuáñrar | tuáñránize | tuáñrar | |
3rd | m/f (they) | itará * tará * uitará ** ítara ** | itaráre taráre uitaráre ítarare | itarár tarár uitarár ítarar | itaránize taránize uitaránize ítaranize | itarár tarár uitarár ítarar | |
n (they) | iín * íin ** uún úun ** uuín ** | iínóre íinóre uúnóre úunóre uuínóre | iínór íinór uúnór úunór uuínór | iínnize íinnize uúnnize úunnize uuínnize | iínór íinór uúnór úunór uuínór |
Gender: m=male, f=female, n=neuter., *=the person or object is near., **=the person or object is far.
The interrogative is indicated by né at the end of the sentence.
Itattú gór ekkán asé né? [Does he have a house?]
Itattú gór ekkán asé. [He has a house.]
Ibá za né? [Does she go?]
Ibá za. [She goes.]
Itará giyé né? [Did they go?]
Itará giyé. [They went.]
Rohingya verbs indicate person by suffixes.
Present Tense
lek = write (command to you sg.)
lekí = I/we write.
lekó = write (command to you pl.)
lekós = You write (sg./pl.).
leké = He/she/they write(s).
Present Continuous Tense
lekír = I/we am/are writing.
lekór = You (sg./pl.) are writing.
lekér = He/she/they is/are writing.
Present Perfect Tense
lekífélaiyi = I/we have written.
lekífélaiyo = You (sg./pl.) have written.
lekífélaiyós = You (sg.) have written. (used to very closed people)
lekífélaiye = He/she/they has/have written.
Future Tense
lekíyóum = I/we will write.
lekíbá = You (sg./pl.) will write.
lekíbi = You (sg.) will write. (used to very closed people)
lekíbóu = He/she/they will write.
Past Tense (Immediate/near past)
leikkí = I/we wrote.
leikkó = You (sg./pl.) wrote.
leikkós = You (sg.) wrote. (used to very closed people)
leikké = He/she/they wrote.
Past Tense (Remote past)
leikkílám = I/we wrote long ago.
leikkílá = You (sg./pl.) wrote long ago.
leikkílí = You (sg.) wrote long ago. (used to very closed people)
leikkíl = He/she/they wrote long ago.
Past Tense (If possibility)
lekítám = I/we would have written.
lekítá = You (sg./pl.) would have written.
lekítí = You (sg.) would have written. (used to very closed people)
lekítóu = He/she/they would have written.
Forming Noun, Doer, Tool, Action
lekóon = act of writing.
e.g. Debalor uore lekóon gom noó. Writing on wall is not good.
lekóya = writer.
e.g. Itaráttú lekóya bicí. They-have many writers.
lekóni = thing with which you write.
e.g. Añártú honó lekóni nái. I-have no any writing-thing (i.e. pen, pencil)
lekát = in the action of writing.
e.g. Tui lekát asós. You are busy-in-writing.
Examples of the case inflection are given below, using the singular forms of the Rohingya term for "hóliba (tailor)" which belongs to Rohingya's first declension class.
Seventy or more different forms are available in Rohingya. A hyphen (-) between letters is to be removed, it is used for initial understanding only — how the word is formed.
The Hanifi Rohingya script is a unified script for the Rohingya language. Rohingya was first written in the 19th century with a version of the Perso-Arabic script. In 1975, an orthographic Arabic script was developed, based on the Urdu alphabet.
In the 1980s, (Maolana) Mohammad Hanif and his colleagues created the suitable phonetic script based on Arabic letters; it has been compared to the N’ko script. The script also includes a set of decimal numbers.[9][10]
A virtual keyboard was developed by Google for the Rohingya language in 2019 and allows users to type directly in Rohingya script. The Rohingya Unicode keyboard layout can be found here.
𐴌𐴟𐴇𐴥𐴝𐴚𐴒𐴙𐴝 𐴇𐴥𐴡𐴌𐴟𐴉𐴢[11] | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
𐴅 | 𐴄 | 𐴃 | 𐴂 | 𐴁 | 𐴀 |
𐴋 | 𐴊 | 𐴉 | 𐴈 | 𐴇 | 𐴆 |
𐴑 | 𐴐 | 𐴏 | 𐴎 | 𐴍 | 𐴌 |
𐴗 | 𐴖 | 𐴕 | 𐴔 | 𐴓 | 𐴒 |
𐴜 | 𐴛 | 𐴚 | 𐴙 | 𐴘 |
𐴌𐴟𐴇𐴥𐴝𐴚𐴒𐴙𐴝 𐴀𐴝𐴉𐴡𐴌 𐴀𐴞𐴉𐴡𐴌𐴢 | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
𐴢 | 𐴡 | 𐴠 | 𐴟 | 𐴞 | 𐴝 |
◌𐴧 | ◌𐴦 | ◌𐴥 | ◌𐴤 | 𐴣 |
𐴌𐴟𐴇𐴥𐴝𐴚𐴒𐴙𐴝 𐴓𐴡𐴔𐴁𐴡𐴌𐴢 | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
𐴰 | 𐴱 | 𐴲 | 𐴳 | 𐴴 | 𐴵 | 𐴶 | 𐴷 | 𐴸 | 𐴹 |
The first Rohingya language texts, written in Arabic script, are claimed to be more than 200 years old, though there is no concrete evidence about it.[12] While Arakan was under British rule (1826–1948), the Rohingya people used mainly English and Urdu for written communication. Since independence in 1948, Burmese has been used in all official communications. Since the early 1960s, Rohingya scholars have started to realise the need for a writing system suited to their own language.
In 1975 a writing system was developed using Arabic letters; other scholars adopted Urdu script to remedy some deficiencies of the Arabic. Neither proved satisfactory, however, and most Rohingyas found it difficult to read the language in either version.
Following these attempts, (Maolana) Mohammad Hanif achieved a dedicated right-to-left alphabet for the Rohingya language in 1983. Named after its author, the Hanifi alphabet is a modified form of the Arabic alphabet, with additional borrowings from Latin and Burmese alphabets.[13]
At present, a Rohingya Unicode font is available. It is based on Arabic letters (since those are far more understood by the people) with additional tone signs.[12][13] Tests that have been conducted suggest that this script can be learned in a matter of hours if the reader has learned Arabic in a madrassa.
The Rohingya Fonna Unicode keyboard layout as well as a free font can be found here.
In 1999 E.M. Siddique Basu was able to simplify the Rohingya writing using Latin letters. It is an intuitive writing system which can be learnt easily and is known as Rohingyalish or Rohingya Fonna that uses only 26 Roman letters, five accented vowels, and two additional Latin characters for retroflex and nasal sounds.
A a | B b | C c | Ç ç | D d | E e | F f |
G g | H h | I i | J j | K k | L l | M m |
N n | Ñ ñ | O o | P p | Q q | R r | S s |
T t | U u | V v | W w | X x | Y y | Z z |
Q, V, and X are used only for loan-words.[14]
The character set table of the Rohingya writing system uses the Latin letters shown above (ç and ñ with green background). The vowels are written both unaccented (aeiou) and accented (áéíóú). The use of c, ç and ñ is adapted to the language; c represents /ʃ/ (English sh), ç is the retroflex r ([ɽ]),[12] and ñ indicates a nasalised vowel (e.g., fañs /fãs/ 'five'). Crucially, these can all be accessed from an English keyboard, for example by using the English (US) International keyboard.
Names and pronunciation of letters
The names of the letters of the Latin Rohingya alphabet are similar to the names of the letters of the English alphabet.
Grapheme | Pronunciation | Name |
---|---|---|
a | /a/ | ee |
b | /b/ | bii |
c | /ʃ/ | cii |
ç | /ɽ/ | çii |
d | /d̪/ | dii |
e | /e/ | ii |
f | /f/ | ef |
g | /g/ | jii |
h | /h, x/ | eech |
i | /i/ | ai |
j | /ɟ/ | jee |
k | /k/ | kee |
l | /l/ | el |
m | /m/ | em |
n | /n/ | en |
ñ | /◌̃/ (nasalization) | añ |
o | /ɔ/ | oou |
p | /p/ | pii |
q | /q/ | kyuu |
r | /r/ | er |
s | /s/ | es |
t | /t̪/ | tii |
u | /u/ | yuu |
v | /v/ | vii |
w | /w/ | dblyuu |
x | /ks/ | eks |
y | /j/ | way |
z | /z/ | zed |
Grapheme | Pronunciation |
---|---|
ch | /c/ |
dh | /ɖ/ |
h' | /h/ |
kh | /x/ |
ng | /ŋ/ |
ny | /ɲ/ |
ou | /o/ |
th | /t̪/ |
ts | /t̪/ |
Long vowels in Rohingyalish are spelled with double vowels: for example, a long /ɔ/ is spelled as "oo", while a long /o/ is spelled as "oou".[14]
The following is a sample text in Rohingya of Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights with English, contrasted with versions of the text in Bengali and Assamese.
Rohingya in Rohingya Latin alphabet
English original: "All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood."
Bengali Latin script
Assamese in Latin script
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: CS1 maint: url-status (link) Media related to Rohingya language at Wikimedia Commons
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Official language | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Semiofficial language | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Indigenous languages (by state or region) |
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Non-Indigenous |
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Sign languages |
Modern Indo-Aryan languages | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Dardic |
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Northern |
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Northwestern |
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Western |
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Central |
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Eastern |
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Southern |
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Unclassified | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pidgins and creoles | |||||||||||||||||||||||||