Re: A BrSc a? & Nyuu Romaji

John Cowan wrote:


>Tim May scripsit:
>
>>  > I can't quite tell if you realize that "Myanmar" is pronounced
['b@m@].
>> Are you _certain_ about this?  Everything I can find contradicts it.
>
>The spelling "Burma(h)" is a transcription of the sound of the native
>word using (British) English conventions.  The spelling "Myanmar" is
>a letter-by-letter transliteration of the script into Latin script.
>The underlying sound is the same.  Doubtless some people say
>/mjanmar/ or /majanmar/ or the like, but they are wrong just the same.
>
>> http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/world/A0834629.html
>
>This article says "Myanmar or Burma" and gives the pron. "bu^rmu"
>where the last u is italic, presumably representing a schwa.
>Note that the same thing is done with "Yangon formerly Rangoon", the
>capital, pron. "rang-GOON"
Certainly one of the problems here is that we don't know (1) the intricacies
of Burmese script (of South Indian derivation IIRC), (2) when it was
codified (a long time ago, I suspect) and (3) sound changes that have
affected spoken Burmese since that time.  I do know that the written symbol
"s" is now pronounced as [T], and I seem to recall that "ky" is [tS]
(logical enough). Perhaps "r" is now [j], and silent in word-final position
(suggests it might have been an American-style r).  Plus, there's simply no
accounting for how the Brits might or might not have (mis)interpreted the
pronunciation. (Or, for that matter,  the Burmese authorities who decided to
cleave to the "original" spelling.  Perhaps in the 13th C. or so, "myanmar"
somehow reflected the real pronunciation???)

This is reminiscent of Kampuchea ~French Cambodge ~Engl. Cambodia -- six of
one..........

Somewhat OT, but a related problem with Indic scripts:  one sees the name of
the King of Thailand variously as Phumipon, Phumipol, or Bhumibol etc.
Since the first part is undoubtedly Sanskrit _bhumi_ 'world, earth' I assume
it's written with a character derived from "bh", even though nowadays it
pronounced [p_h].  Similarly, my Thai-made hot sauce is romanized "sriracha"
brand, presumably equiv. to Indic 'Sri Raja' or "(honorif.) king'.   A
glance at various Thai menus will also reveal inconsistences in
transliteration-- mee krop, mi krob etc. etc.

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