Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2019 September 1

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September 1[edit]

The adjective form of "Myanmar"[edit]

I don't know why did I think the proper adjective form of "Myanmar" was "Myanmese", but does anyone know what should I use when I'm referring to 'something of/from Myanmar' (not the Burmese language)? JSH-alive/talk/cont/mail 10:09, 1 September 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Wiktionary gives wikt:Myanmarese. Jmar67 (talk) 10:43, 1 September 2019 (UTC)[reply]
It would also be fine to use the historic name and call such things "Burmese". (I'd hate to run into a "Myanmarese Python", because by the time I choked his name out, he would be choking me.) SinisterLefty (talk) 02:48, 2 September 2019 (UTC)[reply]
"Myanmar" could easily be used as an adjective as well. Jmar67 (talk) 04:58, 2 September 2019 (UTC)[reply]

I guess I can use "Burmese", then. Thanks, everyone. JSH-alive/talk/cont/mail 16:49, 4 September 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Cats must not like change, which explains why we still have Siamese cats, Persian cats, Abyssinian cats, and, of course, Burmese cats. :-) SinisterLefty (talk) 17:09, 4 September 2019 (UTC) [reply]
Curled up on a Persian carpet purchased from a shopkeeper who speaks Persian and shipped through the Persian Gulf. 2A00:23C7:C988:FD00:3CED:C868:CE58:E28D (talk) 19:38, 4 September 2019 (UTC)[reply]
Would you believe that description sounded so good that Iran out and got a cat and rug ? :-) SinisterLefty (talk) 00:35, 5 September 2019 (UTC) [reply]
Dogs too. Pekinese, Pomeranian, Dalmatian ... -- Jack of Oz [pleasantries] 01:57, 7 September 2019 (UTC) [reply]

Man, why don't we have, say, Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Myanmar-related articles already? JSH-alive/talk/cont/mail 06:50, 5 September 2019 (UTC)[reply]

@JSH-alive and Jmar67: Very late to this conversation, but it is also possible to use Myanma as the adjective form of Myanmar. The lack of -r is intended to denote creaky tone on the final syllable, which is a way of indicating the possessor in a possessive construction (see wikt:Appendix:Burmese induced creaky tone). So Myanmar in Burmese is /mjàɴmà/ with low tone on the final syllable, but of Myanmar is /mjàɴma̰/ with creaky tone, and people attempt to reflect that in the Latin alphabet by spelling the former Myanmar (under the influence of nonrhotic varieties of English, where -r just indicates a long vowel and not an actual /r/ consonant) and the latter Myanma (because creaky tone is shorter than low tone). —Mahāgaja · talk 12:12, 5 October 2019 (UTC)[reply]