3.4.1 Judson
The first Western grammar of Burmese was developed by Adoniram Judson 1866 along with his Burmese—English Dictionary 1893 for the purpose of assisting Westerners,
particularly native speakers of English, who wished to learn to speak and read Burmese. As such, the grammar utilizes word categories which would be most familiar to those from
Western linguistic traditions. The six classes of words Judson identified were Noun common and proper, Pronoun, Verb, Adjective, Adverb, and Interjection. Though he does not classify
particles as a separate word class, he deals with the functions of particles extensively for his brief grammar 46 of 66 pages under the classification for each word class. Nominal particles
are labeled as “case.” Nine “cases” are identified: Nominative sany
onf,
ha
[m,
ka:
um:
, Objective kui
udk,
sui.
odk.
, Possessive e , rai.
|J.
, creaky tone -
h
, Dative a:
tm:,
kui
udk
, Causative kraung.
ajumif.,
lo.
vdk.
, Instrumentive hpang.
\zif.
hnang.
Sdif.
nai.
eJh
, Connective hnang.
Sdif.,
hpang.
\zif.
, Locative twang
wGif,
hnai.
Y,
hma
rSm
, and Ablative hma.
rS
, ka.
u
. Judson’s classificatory scheme formed the basis for subsequent studies. His
description of grammatical constructions was limited to minimal constructions illustrating the use of the parts of speech under discussion. There is no discussion of syntax per se.
3.4.2 Taw Sein Ko
Judson’s grammar was followed by an equally brief grammar by a native Burman, Taw Sein Ko 1891,
3
who worked as a government translator. The purpose of his grammar was not to be exhaustive, but to “offer suggestive hints” regarding the character and structure of
Burmese for foreigners, and to assert that Myanmar has its own literature, contrary to the assumptions of most resident Europeans. “There is no native work worthy of being called a
Grammar, and the word Grammar itself is a misnomer when applied to Burmese” 1891: preface. Taw Sein Ko’s classification mirrors Judson’s but with the addition of two
categories called Preposition and Conjunction, making a total of eight form classes. His prepositions are postpositions of direction fromto, of time, and of place. Conjunctions
consist of Judson’s “connective case,” together with multi-postpositional combinations to create various inter-clausal operations: in addition to copulative, there are Disjunctive hma.
ta. pa:
rSwyg:
, le.kaung prang
4if:\yif
, prang
\yif
all of which basically mean ‘besides’;
hprac ce
\zpfap,
‘either-or’; sui. ma. hat
odkhr[wf
‘or’, Adversative sau lany:
aomfvnf:
, sui. sau lany:
odkhdaomfvnf:
sui. ra twang
odkh|mwGif
‘but, although’, Illative
sui. phrac rwe
odkh\zpfI,
htui kraung.
xdkajumif.
‘therefore’, and Telic hnang. a-nye
Sif.tnD
, sa. hprang.
o\zif.
, sany. a-tuing:
onf.twdkif:
, kraung.
ajumif.
, sau:
3
There is no surname in Burmese proper names. A two or three word name typically consists of positive character attributes arranged in free order. The title of U uncle is honorary and roughly the equivalent of ‘Mr.’
in English. The female title of Daw aunt is the equivalent of Mrs. Titles in publishing often become part of the nom de plume. Additionally out of the requirement to have a surname some have opted to list in bibliographies
one of their names as if it is a surname. Thus Myint Soe lists his own name as Soe, Myint in his bibliography. Where an author uses this style, it has also been followed here. Otherwise alphabetical listing is by the first
name.
kraung.
aomajumif.
, ra.ka:
|um:
‘because’. Although Taw Sein Ko proposed eight form classes, in his book he used as explanation basically three classes: Nouns with
Pronouns, Verbs, and Particles. This observation will prove helpful to the overall structure of the proposed nature of form classes and the eventual manner in which a reduced set of three
generic forms organize Burmese constituent structure.
3.4.3 Stewart