Rohingya language

Rohingya
	𐴌𐴟𐴇𐴥𐴝𐴚𐴒𐴙𐴝; 𐴌𐴗𐴥𐴝𐴙𐴚𐴒𐴙𐴝; رُاَࣺينڠَ
	The word "Rohingya" written in the Hanifi Rohingya alphabet
Native to	Arakan (Rakhine State)
Region	Rakhine State (Myanmar) and southeastern Chittagong Division (Bangladesh)
Ethnicity	Rohingya
Native speakers	1.8 million (2012)[1]
Language family	Indo-European Indo-Iranian Indo-Aryan Eastern Bengali–Assamese Rohingya; ; ; ; ;
Writing system	Hanifi Rohingya, Perso-Arabic, Burmese, Latin, Bengali–Assamese (rare)
Language codes
ISO 639-3	rhg
Glottolog	rohi1238[2]
	Traditional area of Rohingya speakers

Rohingya (/roʊˈɪndʒə, -hɪn-, -ɪŋjə/),[3] also known as Ruáingga (IPA: [rʊˈɜiɲɟə]; 𐴌𐴗𐴥𐴝𐴙𐴚𐴒𐴙𐴝), is a language spoken by the Rohingya people of Rakhine State.[4][5] It is an Eastern Indo-Aryan language belonging to the Bengali–Assamese branch, and is related to the Chittagonian language spoken in neighboring Bangladesh. The Rohingya language and Chittagonian are considered mutually intelligible.[6]

Phonology

Consonants

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.

Rohingya consonants[7]
		Bilabial	Labio- dental	Dental/ Alveolar	Retroflex	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Plosive	voiceless	p		t̪	ʈ	c	k	ʔ
Plosive	voiced	b		d̪	ɖ	ɟ	ɡ
Nasal		m		n		ɲ	ŋ
Fricative	voiceless		f	s		ç	x	h
Fricative	voiced			z
Flap				ɾ	ɽ
Approximant	central	w				j
Approximant	lateral			l

Vowels

	Front	Back
Close	i	u
Close-mid	e	o
Open-mid	e	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.

Tones

Accented vowels, marked with an acute accent, represent stressed (or "hard" vowels), and repeating a vowel lengthens it.[7] Thus, tonals are marked by arranging the location of a stressed vowel in a lengthened pair, like ⟨aá⟩ and ⟨áa⟩.[7]

Grammar

Definite articles

1. If a noun ends with a vowel then the article is either án or wá if singular, or ún 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     (the farms)
 Fothú án     (the picture)       Fothú ún     (the pictures)
 Fata  wá     (the leaf)          Fata  ún     (the leaves)
 Boro  wá     (the large)         Boro  ún     (the large)
                                  Lou   ún     (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 for plural.

 Debal  lán   (the wall)          Debal  lún   (the walls)
 Mes    sán   (the table)         Mes    sún   (the tables)
 Kitap  pwá   (the book)          Kitap  pún   (the books)
 Manúic cwá   (the man)           Manúic cún   (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.

 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)
 
 Note: gún is used for human and gín for non-human.

Indefinite articles

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)

Word order

Rohingya word order-1 is Subject–Object–Verb.

Subject         Object                 Verb
Aññí  (I)       bát     (rice)         hái  (eat).
Ite   (He)      TV      (TV)           saá  (watches).
Ibá   (She)     sairkél (bicycle)      soré (rides).
Itará (They)    ham ot  (to work)      za   (go).

Rohingya word order-2 is Subject–Time-Place-Object–Verb.

Subject      Time                            Place                   Object             Verb
Ibá  (I)     beínna       (in the morning)   gór ot    (at home)     bát    (rice)      há  (eat).
Tará (They)  biale        (at night)         duan ot   (at shop)     TV     (TV)        saá (watches).
Ite  (He)    sair gwá báze(at 4pm)           hál hañsat(at seaside)  sairkél(bicycle)   soré(rides).
Ítara(They)  nowá báze    (at 9 o'clock)     ofís ot   (to office)   ham ot (to work)   zaa (go).

Rohingya word order-3 is Subject–Time-[adjective]-Place-Object–[adverb]-Verb.

Subject      Time      [Adjective]    Place       [Adverb]                   Object    Verb
Tuñí         aijja      noya          eskul ot     toratori/toratorigorí     paathi    goró.
You          today      new           at school    quickly                   party     make.

Rohingya word order-4 is Subject–Time-[adjective]-Place-Object–[adverb]-Verb_1-Verb_2.

Subject      Time      [Adjective]    Place       [Adverb]                   Object    Verb_1    Verb_2
Tuñí         aijja      noya          eskul ot     toratori/toratorigorí     paathi    goittóu   modot-goró.
You          today      new           at school    quickly                   party     help      to make.
English: You help to make party quickly at new school today.

Tenses

Rohingya distinguishes 12 tenses, 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.

First person ( I ):

1. Present
(a)Aññí hái.                   (I eat.)
(b)Aññí háir.                  (I am eating.)
(c)Aññí hái félaiyi.           (I have eaten.)
(d)Aññí hái félair.            (I have been eating.)

2. Past
(a)Aññí háiyi.                 (I ate.) Note: refer near past.
   Aññí háailam.               (I ate.) Note: refer far past.
(b)Aññí háat táikkilám.        (I was eating.)
(c)Aññí hái  félailám.         (I had eaten.)
(d)Aññí hái  félaat táikkilám. (I had been eating.)

3. Future
(a)Aññí háiyoum.               (I will eat.)
(b)Aññí háat tákiyoum.         (I will be eating.)
   Aññí háiyoum boi.                  "
(c)Aññí hái  félaiyoum.        (I will have eaten.)
(d)Aññí hái  félaat tákiyoum.  (I will have been eating.)

Second person ( You ):

1. Present
(a)Tuñí/Oñne hóo.                 [Tui hós.]                 (You eat.)
(b)Tuñí/Oñne hóor.                [Tui hóor.]                (You are eating.)
(c)Tuñí/Oñne hái  félaiyó.        [Tui hái  félaiyós].       (You have eaten.)
(d)Tuñí/Oñne hái  féloor.         [Tui hái  féloor].         (You have been eating.)

2. Past
(a)Tuñí/Oñne háiyo.               [Tui háiyós.]              (You ate.) Note: refer near past.
   Tuñí/Oñne háailá.              [Tui háailí.]              (You ate.) Note: refer far past.
(b)Tuñí/Oñne háat táikkilá.       [Tui háat táikkilí.]       (You were eating.)
(c)Tuñí/Oñne hái  félailá.        [Tui hái  félailí.]        (You had eaten.)
(d)Tuñí/Oñne hái  félaat táikkilá.[Tui hái  félaat táikkilí.](You had been eating.)

3. Future
(a)Tuñí/Oñne háiba.               [Tui háibí.]               (You will eat.)
(b)Tuñí/Oñne háat tákibá.         [Tui háat tákibí.]         (You will be eating.)
   Tuñí/Oñne háiba goi.           [Tui háibi goi.]                      "
(c)Tuñí/Oñne hái  félaibá.        [Tui hái  félaibí.]        (You will have eaten.)
(d)Tuñí/Oñne hái  félaat tákibá.  [Tui hái  félaat tákibí.]  (You will have been eating.)

Third persons ( He/She/They ):

1. Present
(a)Ite/Ibá/Itará  há.                   (He/She/They eats/eats/eat.)
(b)Ite/Ibá/Itará  hár.                  (He/She/They is/is/are eating.)
   Ite/Ibá/Itará  hái boi.                      "
(c)Ite/Ibá/Itará  hái félaiye.          (He/She/They has/has/have eaten.)
(d)Ite/Ibá/Itará  hái félaar.           (He/She/They has/has/have been eating.)

2. Past
(a)Ite/Ibá/Itará  háaiye.               (He/She/They ate.) Note: refer near past.
   Ite/Ibá/Itará  háail.                (He/She/They ate.) Note: refer far past.
(b)Ite/Ibá/Itará  háat táikkil.         (He/She/They was/was/were eating.)
(c)Ite/Ibá/Itará  hái  félail.          (He/She/They had eaten.)
(d)Ite/Ibá/Itará  hái  félaat táikkil.  (He/She/They had been eating.)

3. Future
(a)Ite/Ibá/Itará  háibou.               (He/She/They will eat.)
(b)Ite/Ibá/Itará  háat tákibou.         (He/She/They will be eating.)
   Ite/Ibá/Itará  háibou goi.                   "
(c)Ite/Ibá/Itará  hái  félaibou.        (He/She/They will has/has/have eaten.)
(d)Ite/Ibá/Itará  hái  félaat tákibou.  (He/She/They will has/has/have been eating.)

Pronouns

Number	Person	Gender	Pronouns				Possessive adjectives
Number	Person	Gender	Subject	Object	Possessive	Reflexive	Possessive adjectives
Singular	1st	m/f (I)	aññí, mui	añáre, more	añár, mor	aññínize, 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
	3rd	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.

Interrogative

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.]

Inflection for person

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.

Rohingya grammatical case

Example of a Rohingya case inflection is given below, using the singular forms of the Rohingya term for "hóliba (tailor)" which belongs to Rohingya's first declension class.

hólibaye (nominative) "[the] hóliba" [as a subject] (e.g. hólibaye tíai táikke éçe – the tailor is standing there)
hólibar (genitive) "[the] hóliba's / [of the] hóliba" (e.g. hólibar nam Ahmed – the tailor's name is Ahmed)
hóliballa (dative) "[to/for the] hóliba" [as an indirect object] (e.g. hóliballa hádiya ekkán diyí – I gave a present for the tailor)
hólibare (accusative) "[the] hóliba" [as a direct object] (e.g. Aññí hólibare deikkí – I saw the tailor)
hólibaloi (ablative) "[by/with/from/in the] hóliba" [in various uses] (e.g. Aññí hólibaloi duan ot giyí – I went to the shop with the tailor).'
óu hóliba / hóliba ya (vocative) "[you] the hóliba" [addressing the object] (e.g. "cúkuria tuáñre, óu hóliba (sáb)" – thank you, tailor).

Morphology

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.

Command

01 lek =write(sg.) Tui yián ehón lek. You write this right now.
02 lek-ó =write(pl.) Tuñí yián ehón lekó. You write this right now.
03 lek-á =cause to write Tui/Tuñí John ór áta leká/lekó. You ask John to write.
04 lek-í-de =help to write Tui/Tuñí ibáre lekíde/lekído. You help John in writing.

Present

05 lek-í =write(I) Aññí hámicá gór ot lekí. I always write at home.
06 lek-ó =write(II) Tuñí hámicá gór ot lekó. You always write at home.
07 lek-ó-s =write(IIa) Tui hámicá gór ot lekós. You always write at home.
08 lek-é =write(III) Tará hámicá gór ot leké. They always write at home.

Continuous

09 lek-í-r =writing(I) Aññí ciñçí ekkán lekír. I am writing a letter now.
10 lek-ó-or =writing(II) Tuñí/Tui ciñçí ekkán lekóor. You are writing a letter now.
11 lek-é-r =writing(III) Tará ciñçí ekkán lekér. They are writing a letter now.

Perfect

12 lek-í-féla-iyi =have written(I) Aññí ciñçí lekífélaiyi. I have written a letter.
13 lek-í-féla-iyo =have written (II) Tuñí ciñçí lekífélaiyi. You have written a letter.
14 lek-í-féla-iyo-s =have written(IIa) Tui ciñçí lekífélaiyos. You have written a letter.
15 lek-í-féla-iye =has/have written (III) Tará ciñçí lekífélaiye. They have written a letter.

Past

16 leik-kí =wrote(I) Aññí ciñçí ekkán leikkí. I wrote a letter.
17 leik-kó =wrote(II) Tuñí ciñçí ekkán leikkó. You wrote a letter.
18 leik-kó-s =wrote(IIa) Tui ciñçí ekkán leikkós. You wrote a letter.
19 leik-ké =wrote(III) Tará ciñçí ekkán leikké. They wrote a letter.

Future

20 lek-í-youm =will write(I) Aññí ciñçí ekkán lekíyoum. I will write a letter.
21 lek-í-ba =will write(II) Tuñí ciñçí ekkán lekíba. You will write a letter.
22 lek-í-bi =will write(IIa) Tui ciñçí ekkán lekkíbi. You will write a letter.
23 lek-í-bou =will write(III) Tará ciñçí ekkán lekíbou. They will write a letter.

Alternative

24 leik-kyóum =will write(I) Aññí ciñçí ekkán leikkyóum. I will write a letter.
25 leik-bá =will write(II) Tuñí ciñçí ekkán leikbá. You will write a letter.
26 leik-bí =will write(IIa) Tui ciñçí ekkán leikbí. You will write a letter.
27 leik-bóu =will write(III) Tará ciñçí ekkán leikbóu. They will write a letter.

Passive

28 lek-á-giye =(passive I,II,III) Ciñçí ekkán lekágiyé. A letter is/was written.

Possibility

29 lek-á-za =being writable Ciñçí yián leká za. This letter is not writable.
30 lek-á-za-ibou =being writable in future Ciñçí yián leká zaibou. This letter will be writable.
31 lek-á-di-ya-za =can be made writable Ciñçí yián lekádiyaza. This letter can be made writable.

Noun

32 lek-á =writing Leká yián bicí cúndor. This writing is very beautiful.
33 lek-ó-on =act of writing Email beggún óttu lekóon saá. All should write emails.
34 lek-ó-ya =person who writes Ahmed bála lekóya. Ahmed is a good writer.
35 lek-ó-ni =thing used to write Añártu honó lekóni ciz nái. I do not have anything to write with.
36 lek-á-ni =tool used to write Añártu honó lekáni boudh nái. I do not have any writing board.
37 lek-á-lekí =activities to write Tuáñrár bútore lekáleki tákoon saá. There should be writing between you.

Adjective

38 lek-é-de =thing used for writing Añártu honó lekéde ciz nái. I do noy have any writable thing.
39 leik-kyá =of written Kitab ibá fura leikká. This book is fully written.
40 leik-kyé-dé=of that written Añártu honó leikkyéde juab nái. I do not have any written answer.

Adverb

41 lek-í lek-í =by writing & writing/while writing Ite gór ottu lekí lekí aiyér. He is coming from home while writing.

Immediate present

42 lek-í-lam =acted to write(I) Aññí habos sán lekílam. I write the letter.
43 lek-í-la =acted to write(II) Tuñí habos sán lekíla. You write the letter.
44 lek-í-li =acted to write(II) Tui habos sán lekíli. You write the letter.
45 lek-í-lou =acted to write(III) Tará habos sán lekílou. They write the letter.

Alternative

46 leik-lám =acted to write(I) Aññí habos sán lekílam. I write the letter.
47 leik-lá =acted to write(II) Tuñí habos sán lekíla. You write the letter.
48 leik-lí =acted to write(II) Tui habos sán lekíli. You write the letter.
49 leik-lou =acted to write(III) Tará habos sán lekílou. They write the letter.

Long past

50 leik-kí-lam =had written(I) Aññí habos sán leikkílam. I had written this paper long ago.
51 leik-kí-la =had written(II) Tuñí habos sán leikkíla. You had written this paper long ago.
52 leik-kí-li =had written(II) Tui habos sán leikkíli. You had written this paper long ago.
53 leik-kí-l =had written(III) Tará habos sán leikkíl. They had written this paper long ago.

Remote future

54 lek-í-youm éri =will write later(I) Aññí habos sán lekíyoum éri. I will write the paper sometime later.
55 lek-í-ba ri =will write later(II) Tuñí habos sán lekíba ri. You will write the paper sometime later.
56 lek-í-bi ri =will write later(IIa) Tui habos sán lekíbi ri. You write the paper sometime later.
57 lek-í-bou ri =will write later(III) Tará habos sán lekíbou ri. They will write the paper sometime later.

Conditional

58 lek-í-tam =would have written(I) Aññí email lán lekítam. I would have written the email.
59 lek-í-ta =would have written(II) Tuñí email lán lekíta i. You would have written the email.
60 lek-í-ti =would have written(IIa) Tui email lán lekíti. You would have written the email.
61 lek-í-tou =would have written(III) Tará email lán lekítou. They would have written the email.

Alternative

62 leik-tám =would have written(I) Aññí email lán leiktám. I would have written the email.
63 leik-tá =would have written(II) Tuñí email lán leiktá. You would have written the email.
64 leik-tí =would have written(IIa) Tui email lán leiktí. You would have written the email.
65 leik-tóu =would have written(III) Tará email lán leiktóu. They would have written the email.

Request/allow

66 lek-ó-na =please write Meérbanigorí lekóna. Please write the letter.
67 lek-ó-goi =allowed to write Tuñí lekó gói. Let you write.

Alternative

68 lek-se-ná =please write Meérbanigorí leksená. Please write the letter.
69 lek-gói =allowed to write Tui lek gói. Let you write.

If

70 lek-í-le =if (I/II/III) person write Tuñí lekíle gom óibou. It will be good if you write.

Writing systems

Rohingya Hanifi script

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]

Layout of the Rohingya virtual keyboard.

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.

Characters

Rohingya alphabets -29
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

Rohingya vowels -7
𐴌𐴟𐴇𐴥𐴝𐴚𐴒𐴙𐴝 𐴀𐴝𐴉𐴡𐴌 𐴀𐴞𐴉𐴡𐴌𐴢
𐴢	𐴡	𐴠	𐴟	𐴞	𐴝
	◌𐴧	◌𐴦	◌𐴥	◌𐴤	𐴣

Rohingya numerals
𐴌𐴟𐴇𐴥𐴝𐴚𐴒𐴙𐴝 𐴓𐴡𐴔𐴁𐴡𐴌𐴢
𐴰	𐴱	𐴲	𐴳	𐴴	𐴵	𐴶	𐴷	𐴸	𐴹

Arabic script

Written in Arabic script, the first Rohingya language texts are more than 200 years old.[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 realize 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, Maulana 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.

Roman script

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.

Rohingyalish character set-28
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 Rohingyalish 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 nasalized 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 Rohingyalish alphabet are similar to the names of the letters of the English alphabet.

Basic letters[14]
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

Digraphs
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]

Sample text

The following is a sample text in Rohingya of the Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:

Rohingya in Rohingya Latin alphabet

Manúic beggún azad hísafe, ar izzot arde hók ókkol ót, fúainna hísafe foida óiye. Fottí insán óttu honó forók sára elan ot aséde tamám hók ókkol arde azadi ókkol loi fáaida goróon ór hók asé. Ar, taráre dil arde demak diyé. Ótolla, taráttu ekzon loi arekzon bái hísafe maamela goróon saá.

Bengali in Latin script

Shômosto manush shadhinbhabe shôman môrjada ebong odhikar niye jônmogrohon kôre. Tãder bibek ebong buddhi achhe; shutorang shôkoleri êke ôporer proti bhratrittoshulobh mônobhab niye achôron kôra uchit.

Assamese in Latin script

Xôkôlû manuhê sadhinbhawê xôman môrzôda aru ôdhikar lôi zônmôgrôhôn kôrê. Xihôtôr bibêk aru buddhi asê aru xihôtê pôrôspôr bhratrittôrê asôrôn kôribô lagê.

gollark: Why are you reading the cognitohazardous version?

gollark: Also, for good reasons.

gollark: In what?

gollark: hd!histodev30

gollark: hd!histodev 33333333

References

Rohingya at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Rohingya". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
"Rohingya". Oxford English Dictionary (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press. September 2005. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
What is Rohingyalish or Rohingya Language?, RohingyaLanguage.com, archived from the original on 31 July 2012, retrieved 11 June 2012
Rohingya Language, WorldLanguage.com, archived from the original on 25 March 2012, retrieved 11 June 2012
"The Linguistic Innovation Emerging From Rohingya Refugees." by Christine Ro. Forbes. September 13, 2019.
"Archived copy". Archived from the original on 12 June 2011. Retrieved 4 July 2010.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
Kazi Mujibuddin bin Abul khair. روهنغيا قائده (in Arabic) – via Scribd.
"Rohingya alphabets, pronunciation and language". Omniglot. Simon Ager. Retrieved 9 October 2017.
James, Ian (5 July 2012). "Hanifi alphabet for Rohingya". Sky Knowledge. Retrieved 9 October 2017.
"Rohingya Language Academy".
Priest, Lorna A.; Hosken, Martin; SIL International (12 August 2010). "Proposal to add Arabic script characters for African and Asian languages" (PDF). pp. 13–18, 34–37.
Pandey, Anshuman (20 June 2012). "Preliminary Proposal to Encode the Rohingya Script" (PDF). Expanding Unicode. Anshuman Pandey. Retrieved 14 September 2017.
"Rohingya alphabets, pronunciation and language". www.omniglot.com.

External links

Media related to Rohingya language at Wikimedia Commons

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[e18-1] Rohingya at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)

[Glottolog-2] Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Rohingya". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.

[3] "Rohingya". Oxford English Dictionary (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press. September 2005. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)

[4] What is Rohingyalish or Rohingya Language?, RohingyaLanguage.com, archived from the original on 31 July 2012, retrieved 11 June 2012

[5] Rohingya Language, WorldLanguage.com, archived from the original on 25 March 2012, retrieved 11 June 2012

[6] "The Linguistic Innovation Emerging From Rohingya Refugees." by Christine Ro. Forbes. September 13, 2019.

[website-7] "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 12 June 2011. Retrieved 4 July 2010.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

[scribd-8] Kazi Mujibuddin bin Abul khair. روهنغيا قائده (in Arabic) – via Scribd.

[omniglot-9] "Rohingya alphabets, pronunciation and language". Omniglot. Simon Ager. Retrieved 9 October 2017.

[10] James, Ian (5 July 2012). "Hanifi alphabet for Rohingya". Sky Knowledge. Retrieved 9 October 2017.

[11] "Rohingya Language Academy".

[proposal-12] Priest, Lorna A.; Hosken, Martin; SIL International (12 August 2010). "Proposal to add Arabic script characters for African and Asian languages" (PDF). pp. 13–18, 34–37.

[pandey-13] Pandey, Anshuman (20 June 2012). "Preliminary Proposal to Encode the Rohingya Script" (PDF). Expanding Unicode. Anshuman Pandey. Retrieved 14 September 2017.

[Omniglot-14] "Rohingya alphabets, pronunciation and language". www.omniglot.com.