Rohingya (, رُحانغيه, روھنگيا , ) is an Indo-Aryan language belonging to the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European language family, spoken primarily by the Rohingya people, who are from Rakhine State of Myanmar. 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, Chakma, Noakhali and Chittagonian languages have a high degree of mutual intelligibility.
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 Labial Dental/Alveolar Retroflex Palatal Velar Glottal Plosive Nasal () Fricative () Flap Approximant
A dental fricative may also be heard in words of Arabic origin. is only used in words of foreign origin. is heard as when preceding . Allophones of can be heard as .
Vowels + 1st analysis Front Back Close Close-mid Open-mid Open + 2nd analysis Front Back Close Mid Open
Short allophones of are heard as , . Allophones of are heard as .
There are six vowels and several diphthongs in the Rohingya language. They contrast between "open-o" () and "closed-o" () by using the different spellings / and / respectively. According to another, is interpreted instead as a diphthong , leaving only 5 vowels.
Tones
Accented vowels, marked with an acute accent, represent stressed (or "hard" vowels), and repeating a vowel lengthens it. Thus, tonals are marked by arranging the location of a stressed vowel in a lengthened pair, like and .
Grammar
Definite articles 1. If a noun ends with a vowel then the article is either an or wa if singular, or un or in if plural or uncountable.Usually wa is used for round-fatty objects, and an 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 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.
Rohingya word order-2 is Subject–Time-Place-Object–Verb.
Rohingya word order-3 is Subject–Time-[adjective]-Place-Object–[adverb]-Verb.
Rohingya word order-4 is Subject–Time-[adjective]-Place-Object–[adverb]-Verb_1-Verb_2.
More on Time extension: Aijja Januari 24 tarík ót, cón 2017 beínna 4 gwá báze 15 miníth 5 sekén ót.Today January dated 24, year 2017 in the morning at 4 o'clock 15 minutes 5 second. Hailla Januari 30 tarík ót, cón 2017 ázinna 5 swá báze 25 minith 7 sekén ót.Tomorrow January dated 30, year 2017 in the evening at 5 o'clock 25 minutes 7 second. Goto hailla Oktubor 10 tarík ót, cón 2018 rait or 10 cwá báze 35 miníth 50 sekén ot.Yesterday October dated 10, year 2018 in the night at 10 o'clock 35 minutes 50 second.
Tenses 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 present progressive perfect perfect continuous Past near past far past past progressive perfect perfect continuous Future simple future future progressive perfect perfect continuous
Pronouns Number Person Gender Pronouns Possessiveadjectives Subject Object Possessive Reflexive Singular 1st m/f (I)añí, muiañáre, moréañár, morañínize, muinizeañár, mor 2nd m/f (you)tuñítuioñnetuáñretoréoñnorétuáñrtoroñnortuñínizetuinizeoñnenizetuáñrtoroñnor 3rdm (he)ite *te *uite **íte **itarétaréuitaréítareitartaruitarítaritenizetenizeuitenizeítenizeitartaruitarítarm/f (he/she)ibá *uibá **íba **ibáreuibáreíbareibáruibáríbaribánizeuibánizeíbanizeibáruibáríbarn (it)yiánibáyían **íba **yiánóreibáreyíanóreíbareyiánóribáryíanóríbaryiánnizeibánizeyíannizeíbanizeyiánóribáryíanóríbar Plural1stm/f (we)añáraañáráreañárarañáránizeañárar2ndm/f (you)tuáñratuáñráretuáñrartuáñránizetuáñrar3rdm/f (they)itará *tará *uitará **ítara **itaráretaráreuitaráreítarareitarártaráruitarárítararitaránizetaránizeuitaránizeítaranizeitarártaráruitarárítarar n (they) iín *íin **uúnúun **uuín ** iínóreíinóreuúnóreúunóreuuínóre iínóríinóruúnórúunóruuínór iínnizeíinnizeuúnnizeúunnizeuuínnize iínóríinóruúnórúunóruuínór
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.
Case 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. 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 lek =write (sg.) Tui yián ehón lek. You write this right now. lek-ó =write (pl.) Tuñí yián ehón lekó. You write this right now. lek-á =cause to write Tui/Tuñí John ór áta leká/lekó. You ask John to write. lek-í-de =help to write Tui/Tuñí ibáre lekíde/lekído. You help John in writing.
Present lek-í =write (I) Aññí hámicá gór ot lekí. I always write at home. lek-ó =write (II) Tuñí hámicá gór ot lekó. You always write at home. lek-ó-s =write (IIa) Tui hámicá gór ot lekós. You always write at home. lek-é =write (III) Tará hámicá gór ot leké. They always write at home.
Continuous lek-í-r =writing (I) Aññí ciñçí ekkán lekír. I am writing a letter now. lek-ó-or =writing (II) Tuñí/Tui ciñçí ekkán lekóor. You are writing a letter now. lek-é-r =writing (III) Tará ciñçí ekkán lekér. They are writing a letter now.
Perfect lek-í-féla-iyi =have written (I) Aññí ciñçí lekífélaiyi. I have written a letter. lek-í-féla-iyo =have written (II) Tuñí ciñçí lekífélaiyo. You have written a letter. lek-í-féla-iyo-s =have written (IIa) Tui ciñçí lekífélaiyos. You have written a letter. lek-í-féla-iye =has/have written (III) Tará ciñçí lekífélaiye. They have written a letter.
Past leik-kí =wrote (I) Aññí ciñçí ekkán leikkí. I wrote a letter. leik-kó =wrote (II) Tuñí ciñçí ekkán leikkó. You wrote a letter. leik-kó-s =wrote (IIa) Tui ciñçí ekkán leikkós. You wrote a letter. leik-ké =wrote (III) Tará ciñçí ekkán leikké. They wrote a letter.
Future lek-í-youm =will write (I) Aññí ciñçí ekkán lekíyoum. I will write a letter. lek-í-ba =will write (II) Tuñí ciñçí ekkán lekíba. You will write a letter. lek-í-bi =will write (IIa) Tui ciñçí ekkán lekkíbi. You will write a letter. lek-í-bou =will write (III) Tará ciñçí ekkán lekíbou. They will write a letter.
Alternative leik-kyóum =will write (I) Aññí ciñçí ekkán leikkyóum. I will write a letter. leik-bá =will write (II) Tuñí ciñçí ekkán leikbá. You will write a letter. leik-bí =will write (IIa) Tui ciñçí ekkán leikbí. You will write a letter. leik-bóu =will write (III) Tará ciñçí ekkán leikbóu. They will write a letter.
Passive lek-á-giye =(passive I, II, III) Ciñçí ekkán lekágiyé. A letter is/was written.
Possibility lek-á-za =being writable Ciñçí yián leká za. This letter is writable. lek-á-za-ibou =being writable in future This letter will be writable. lek-á-di-ya-za =can be made writable Ciñçí yián lekádiyaza. This letter can be made writable.
Noun lek-á =writing Leká yián bicí cúndor. This writing is very beautiful. lek-ó-on =act of writing Email beggún óttu lekóon saá. All should write emails. lek-ó-ya =person who writes Ahmed bála lekóya. Ahmed is a good writer. lek-ó-ni =thing used to write Añártu honó lekóni ciz nái. I do not have anything to write with.