Editing Myanmar (section)

=== Languages ===
{{main|Languages of Myanmar}}
Myanmar is home to four major language families: [[Sino-Tibetan]], [[Tai–Kadai]], [[Austroasiatic]], and [[Indo-European]].<ref name="languages-of-myanmar"/> Sino-Tibetan languages are most widely spoken. They include [[Burmese language|Burmese]], [[Karen people|Karen]], [[Jingpo people|Kachin]], [[Chin people|Chin]], and Chinese (mainly [[Hokkien]]). The primary Tai–Kadai language is [[Shan language|Shan]]. [[Mon language|Mon]], [[Palaung language|Palaung]], and [[Va people|Wa]] are the major Austroasiatic languages spoken in Myanmar. The two major Indo-European languages are [[Pali]], the liturgical language of Theravada Buddhism, and English.<ref name="ethno">{{cite web |last=Gordon |first=Raymond G. Jr. |title=Language Family Trees: Sino-Tibetan |url=http://www.ethnologue.com/show_family.asp?subid=90150 |work=Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Fifteenth edition |publisher=SIL International |year=2005 |access-date=9 July 2006 |archive-date=11 August 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080811202503/http://www.ethnologue.com/show_family.asp?subid=90150 |url-status=live }}</ref> More than a hundred languages are spoken in total. Since many of them are known only within small tribes around the country, they may have been lost (many if not all) after a few generations.

[[Burmese language|Burmese]], the mother tongue of the Bamar and official language of Myanmar, is related to [[Tibetic languages|Tibetan]] and Chinese.<ref name="ethno" /> It is written in a [[Burmese alphabet|script]] consisting of circular and semi-circular letters, which were adapted from the [[Mon language|Mon script]], which in turn was developed from a southern Indian script in the 5th century. The earliest known inscriptions in the Burmese script date from the 11th century. It is also used to write [[Pali]], the sacred language of Theravada Buddhism, as well as several ethnic minority languages, including Shan, several Karen dialects, and Kayah (Karenni), with the addition of specialised characters and [[diacritic]]s for each language.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://lwinmoe.friendsofburma.org/doc/myanmar_extension.pdf |title=Proposal for encoding characters for Myanmar minority languages in the UCS |access-date=9 July 2006 |date=2 April 2006 |publisher=International Organization for Standardization |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060723083627/http://lwinmoe.friendsofburma.org/doc/myanmar_extension.pdf |archive-date=23 July 2006}}</ref>