ENGLISH LOANWORD ADAPTATION IN BURMESE∗

Charles B. Chang
University of California, Berkeley
<cbchang@post.harvard.edu>

0 Abstract
This paper provides a descriptive account of the main patterns found in the adaptation of
English loanwords in Burmese. First, English segments missing from the Burmese
inventory are replaced by native Burmese segments. Second, coda obstruents are
represented by laryngealized tones. Third, consonant clusters are resolved through vowel
epenthesis or consonant deletion. Finally, various phonotactic gaps native to Burmese,
some with rather idiosyncratic distributional properties, are consistently maintained in
loanwords via a number of different strategies. The data suggest overall that Burmese
phonology heavily constrains the adaptation of English loanwords, and a brief sketch of an
Optimality-Theoretic analysis is presented.

1 Introduction
Lexical borrowing is a common process across languages. Even so, words borrowed into a
language are rarely borrowed faithfully; instead, they typically undergo modification vis-à-
vis their form in the source language from which they were borrowed. This process of
modification may result from the influence of the phonology native to the borrowing
language, from general principles of Universal Grammar, or from a combination of the
two. Loanword phonology has been of great interest in recent years due to the implications
it holds for phonological grammar in general, and the process of loanword adaptation has
been modeled in various ways (e.g. Silverman 1992, Kenstowicz 2003, Peperkamp and
Dupoux 2003, Broselow 2004, LaCharité and Paradis 2005, inter alia) that make different
claims about the stages of adaptation and the relative importance of factors such as the
borrower’s proficiency in the source language and the veridicality of cross-language
speech perception. The phonology of Burmese, however, has not been very heavily
studied, and the few sources that do comment on it are generally quite old or brief (e.g.
Armstrong and Tin 1925, Stewart 1936: 1-17, Cornyn 1944, Jones and Khin 1953, Jones
1960, Burling 1967, Okell 1969: 241). The present study is the first to provide a systematic
description of the phonological patterns in English loanwords that have been incorporated
into Burmese.
The paper is organized as follows. This section provides some background on
aspects of Burmese phonology that are relevant to loanword adaptation, with special
attention to phonological differences from English, and summarizes the methods used in

∗
This work was supported in part by a grant from the Harvard College Research Program, a
Jacob K. Javits Fellowship, and a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship.
Comments, insights, and intuitions from Michael Kenstowicz, Javier Martín-González, Lynn
Nichols, Donca Steriade, Bert Vaux, Ingyin Zaw, Jie Zhang, and the audience at SEALS XVII
have improved this paper immeasurably. Naturally, any remaining errors are mine.
Chang, Charles B. 2009. English Loanword Adaptation In Burmese. Journal of the Southeast Asian
Linguistics Society 1:77-94.
Copyright vested in the author.
77
78 JSEALS Vol. 1

this study. Section 2 details the substitutions used to fill inventory gaps, and Section 3
illustrates the repairs made to syllable codas and consonant clusters. Section 4 presents
loanword data that show certain Burmese phonotactic gaps to be systematic, rather than
accidental. Finally, Section 5 briefly sketches an analysis of competing phonological
considerations in loanword adaptation using the framework of Optimality Theory, and
Section 6 summarizes the main conclusions.

1.1 Background on Burmese phonology

In this section the basics of the Burmese phonological system are laid out in order to
highlight patterns and constraints that are reflected in the adaptation of foreign forms.

1.1.1 Inventories
Depending on what one counts, the Burmese language can be said to contain 34
consonants. There is a three-way laryngeal contrast among voiced, voiceless unaspirated,
and voiceless aspirated obstruents, as well as a typologically rare voicing contrast in
sonorants. A glottal stop and several fricatives round out the inventory (cf. Figure 1).
Notable gaps in comparison to English are the lack of labial fricatives, the alveolar
approximant /r/, and the voiced palatal fricative /ʒ/.

labial dental alveolar palatal velar glottal

plosive p pʰ b t tʰ d k kʰ g Ɂ
affricate tʃ tʃʰ dʒ
fricative (t ̪)θ (d̪)ð s sʰ z ʃ h
nasal m̥ m n̥ n ɲ̥ ɲ ŋ̊ ŋ
lateral l̥ l
tap/flap (ɾ)
approximant w̥ w j
Figure 1: Burmese consonant inventory 1

The Burmese vowel inventory consists of five oral vowels, with nasal counterparts
to the “corner” vowels /i a u/, and four oral diphthongs, each of which has a corresponding
nasal diphthong. Schwa, which occurs as an allophone of [ɪ, ɛ, a, ʊ], rounds out the
inventory (cf. Figure 2). 2 Here there is a notable gap at the mid height, where nasal vowels
do not occur. Burmese also lacks the low front vowel /æ/ and the diphthong /ɔi/ of English.
Other English vowels missing from Burmese, such as the lax vowels /ɪ, ɛ, ʊ/, have close
correspondents in Burmese vowel allophones not included in the chart below.
1
The interdental fricatives are accurately described by Win (1998) as sounding “more like weak
plosives than fricatives”; thus, they are often transcribed in conjunction with a dental stop. The
flap is placed in parentheses because it is not a phoneme, but an allophone of /d/ that otherwise
appears only in loanwords (Cornyn 1944).
2
The vowels [ɪ, ɛ, ʊ] are not included in the vowel chart because they appear to be allophones of
their tense counterparts that appear in closed syllables. Though Win (1998) considers schwa to
have phonemic status, the fact that it alternates with several full vowels and cannot stand on its
own suggests otherwise. Therefore, in this study schwa will be considered an allophone of [ɪ, ɛ,
a, ʊ], as noted above.
Loanword Adaptation in Burmese 79

FRONT CENTRAL BACK

HIGH i ɪ̃ u ʊ̃
MONOPHTHONGS MID e (ə) ɔ
LOW a ã
DIPHTHONGS ei ẽĩ ai ãĩ au ãũ ou õũ
Figure 2: Burmese vowel inventory

Burmese is a tone language, where differences between tones have to do not only
with pitch, but also duration, intensity, phonation, and vowel quality (Green 2005). By
most accounts (e.g. Cornyn 1944, Khin 1976, Wheatley 1987, Green 1995), there are four
distinct tones: low, high, creaky, and a so-called “checked” or glottal tone with the general
features of creaky tone followed by glottal stop (cf. Figure 3). The tone that falls on schwa
is neutral.

TONE TRANSCRIPTION CHARACTERISTICS

low à medium duration, low intensity, low/rising pitch
long duration, high intensity, high/falling pitch, can be
high á
breathy
creaky a̰ short duration, high intensity, high/falling pitch, creaky
glottal aɁ very short duration, high pitch, sharp glottal closure
Figure 3: Burmese tone inventory

Though it is possible to analyze the glottal tone as an allotone of creaky tone occurring
before glottal stop, this study will follow previous ones in adopting a system of four
phonemic tones; however, this decision affects little about the analyses presented below.

1.1.2 Syllable structure and phonotactics

The basic Burmese syllable structure is C1(C2)V(V)(C3) (cf. Figure 4). An onset C1 is
obligatory and may be optionally followed by an approximant C2. The rhyme minimally
contains a monophthongal nucleus, and may also contain a diphthong. A coda C3 is
optional, but is limited to the glottal stop occurring with glottal tone. 3

3
Green (1995) includes a “placeless” nasal as a possible filler of the coda position C3. Under this
analysis, nasal vowels are the surface manifestation of oral vowels followed by placeless nasal
codas. Indeed, final nasals are represented in orthography and pronounced incidentally as nasals
homorganic with the following consonant in rapid speech, but in normal speech these nasals are
realized only as nasalization, making it unclear that synchronically there is still a nasal coda
underlying what on the surface are just nasal vowels. Here nasal vowels are assumed to be
underlying, and glottal stop is taken to be the only permissible coda.
80 JSEALS Vol. 1

ONSET RHYME C2 = {w, j}

C3 = {Ɂ}
C1 C2 NUCLEUS CODA

V V C3
Figure 4: Burmese syllable canon

Several phonotactic restrictions apply to this basic structure. First, the glide /j/ only
occurs after labials; clusters such as */tj, kj/ are ill-formed (Green 1995). Second, the
diphthongs /ai, au/ only occur before coda glottal stop (i.e. not in open syllables). Third, /ɔ/
does not occur with a glottal coda (Cornyn 1944), while the lax vowels [ɪ, ɛ, ʊ, ʌ] only
occur with a glottal coda, or else nasalized (except [ɛ]). Finally, the configuration of a
nasalized vowel followed by a coda glottal is disallowed (Cornyn 1944). 1
Two different syllable types occur in Burmese, distinguished by Green (1995) as
major and minor. Major syllables are heavy, containing any vowel except schwa and
bearing tone, while minor syllables are light, contain schwa and no other vowel, do not
bear tone, and are not word-final. While most Burmese vowels can be found in
monosyllabic words, a syllable with a schwa cannot stand on its own and is always bound
to a following major syllable (Cornyn 1944). Most Burmese words are either monosyllabic
or consist of a minor syllable followed by a major syllable. Words longer than two
syllables are mostly compounds or loanwords (Green 1995).

1.2 Methods
All data presented below are drawn from a corpus of 280 adaptations comprising 193
established loanword adaptations and 46 non-word adaptations gathered from one main
Burmese-English bilingual consultant, as well as 41 additional adaptations from Win
(1998) and Green (2005). Non-word adaptations were made online based upon aural input.
Examples that come from the data of Win or Green are marked as ‘W’ or ‘G’, respectively.

1
If nasal vowels are assumed to arise from underlying nasal codas as in Green (1995), then the
restriction against nasal vowels co-occurring with glottal stop can be attributed to the presence
of only one coda slot in the syllable canon. Here it is simply stipulated that they do not occur
with glottal tone, since doing so sacrifices nothing in terms of empirical coverage and does not
force us to assume underlying nasal codas. Again, however, the analyses presented below are
amenable to either set of assumptions.
Two additional generalizations made by Green (2005) are contradicted by data from native
Burmese words and so are not considered further here. First, the diphthongs /ei, ou/ are said to
pattern with the diphthongs /ai, au/ by not occurring in open syllables (cf. Cornyn 1944, Win
1998 as well); however, several forms contradict this claim (e.g. /jèì/ ‘water’, /pwéí/ ‘gathering’,
/pòù/ ‘to have extra’, /póú/ ‘insect’, /po̰ṵ/ ‘to send’). Second, the lax vowel /ɛ/ is included in the
vowel inventory alongside tense /e/ and is said to occur in open syllables as well as syllables
closed by glottal stop; however, /ɛ/ is actually never found to contrast with /e/ in open syllables
in either native Burmese or the loanword data examined in this study. This vowel clearly
appears to be an allophone of /e/ that occurs in closed syllables.
Loanword Adaptation in Burmese 81

2 Segmental mapping in loanword adaptation

Where an English word contains a segment absent from the Burmese inventory, the
segment in question is generally replaced by the closest correspondent from the Burmese
inventory. With regard to consonants, the voiceless labiodental fricative /f/ is almost
invariably substituted for by the voiceless aspirated bilabial stop /pʰ/ (cf. 1). This pattern of
substitution applies regardless of whether /f/ is initial (cf. 1a-b, 1e-f) or medial (cf. 1c-d),
holds for either orthographic representation (cf. 1a-d vs. 1e-g), and is the substitution of
choice in online adaptation of non-words (cf. 1h). 2

(1) Substitution of Burmese /pʰ/ for English /f/ in loanword adaptations

a. feeling > [pʰì.lɪ ̀ ]̃ b. film > [pʰə.lɪ ̀ ]̃
c. coffee > [kɔ̀.pʰì] d. rifle > [ɾàì p̃ ʰè]
e. Philippines > [pʰìlɪɁpàì ]̃ f. phone > [pʰóú ]̃
g. Sphinx > [sə.pʰɪ ̰ ]̃ h. ‘fote’ > [pʰouɁ]

The voiced labiodental fricative /v/ is usually replaced by a voiced bilabial stop /b/
(cf. 2c-f), which sometimes occurs in a cluster with the labial velar glide /w/ preceding /i/
(cf. 2a-b). Note that there is no similarly restricted distribution of /bw/ in native Burmese.
Instead, the complex onset substitution strikes a sort of phonological compromise,
essentially “breaking” the fricative into segments lying on either side of it on the sonority
hierarchy: /b/ is less sonorous and reflects the obstruency of the fricative, while /w/ is more
sonorous and reflects the continuancy of the fricative. In older borrowings, /v/ is replaced
by /w/ alone (cf. 2g-h). 3

(2) Substitution of Burmese /b, w/ for English /v/ in loanword adaptations

a. video > [b(w)ì.dì.jɔ̀] b. T.V. > [tìb(w)ì]
c. Harvard > [há.bʌɁ] d. Chevy > [tʃʰèbì]
e. David > [déí.bɪɁ] f. university > [jù.nì.bà.sì.tì]
g. Victoria > [wḭ.tòù.ɾḭ.ja̰] h. November > ̃
[nòù.wɪ ̀ .bà]

The voiced palato-alveolar fricative /ʒ/ is consistently devoiced to /ʃ/ (cf. 3a-d).

2
The only apparent exception is the word conference, which comes out as [kʊ̀ .pə.ɾɪ ̃ ̀ ]̃ according
to Win (1998). This isolated instance of /p/-substitution may be related to the fact that /f/ here is
surrounded by consonants, albeit sonorants, on either side (cf. /ˈkɒnfɹəns/), which might have
the effect of masking or shortening the duration of the lower-frequency noise typical of /f/.
3
A couple of different facts suggest that (2g-h) are older borrowings: the anomalous final creaky
tones in (2g), and the class of words to which (2h) belongs – namely, words for months of the
year, which generally show different patterns of segmental substitution than the majority of
words in the corpus (Chang 2003).
As for tones in loanword adaptations, Wheatley (1987: 836) observes that “the assignment of
tones in the process is unpredictable”. This statement is not really true of the laryngealized tones
(whose occurrence is largely predictable, as detailed below), but is true of the low and high
tones (whose occurrence is not neatly correlated with, e.g., stress – see Chang 2003 for further
discussion).
82 JSEALS Vol. 1

(3) Substitution of Burmese /ʃ/ for English /ʒ/ in loanword adaptations

a. Indonesia ̃
> [Ɂɪ ̀ .dòù.ní.ʃá] b. Malaysia > [mə.léí.ʃá]
c. Asia > [Ɂà.ʃa̰] d. television > [tè.lì.bè.ʃɪ ̀ ]̃ (W)

Finally, the English rhotic /r/ (typically realized as an alveolar approximant [ɹ]) is
either mapped to the palatal glide /j/ (cf. 4a-f) in older adaptations, or mapped to the
alveolar flap /ɾ/ (cf. 4g-l) in newer adaptations. There is no apparent conditioning
environment for these particular variants, and several words can occur with either.

(4) Substitution of Burmese /j, ɾ/ for English /r/ in loanword adaptations

a. radio > [jèì.dì.jòù] b. rum > [jà ]̃
c. Russia > [jṵ.ʃá] d. crown > [kə.jáú ]̃ (W)
e. April > [Ɂèì.pjì] f. Andrew > ̃
[Ɂɪ ̀ .də.jú]
g. rubber > [ɾà.bà] h. rifle > ̃
[ɾàì .pʰè]
i. steering > [sə.tì.jà.ɾàì ]̃ j. director > [dà.ɾaiɁ.tà]
k. drum > [də.ɾà ]̃ l. brake > [bə.ɾeiɁ]

With regard to vowels, the low front vowel /æ/ is replaced by /ɛɁ/ (i.e. /e/ with
glottal tone, cf. 5a-b), while the diphthong /ɔi/ is replaced by the sequence /wãĩ/, which
always comes out nasalized even in the absence of a nasal in the input (cf. 5c-d).

(5) Substitution of Burmese vowels for English vowels: /æ/ > /ɛɁ/; /ɔi/ > /wãĩ/
a. Jack > [dʒɛɁ] b. captain > [kɛɁ.pə.tèì ]̃
c. boy > [bwáí ]̃ d. Joy > [dʒwáí ]̃

The substitutions exemplified in (1)-(5) are the major areas where an English
segment is mapped to a significantly different Burmese segment. The rest of the English-
to-Burmese segment mappings are fairly straightforward. English voiceless plosives
generally correspond to Burmese voiceless unaspirated plosives (cf. 6a,c,e), while English
voiceless affricates go to Burmese voiceless aspirated affricates (cf. 6g). English voiceless
fricatives are mapped to Burmese voiceless fricatives (cf. 6l,n), with English /s/ going to
Burmese aspirated /sʰ/ before most unreduced vowels (cf. 6k). English voiced obstruents
generally correspond to Burmese voiced obstruents (cf. 6b,d,f,h,j,m). Nasals (cf. 7a-b),
laterals (cf. 7c), and glides (cf. 7d-f) remain essentially unchanged.
Loanword Adaptation in Burmese 83

(6) Mapping of English obstruents to Burmese obstruents

a. Poland > [pòù.là ]̃ b. bomb > [bóú ]̃
c. tire > [tà.jà] d. dollar > [dɔ̀.là]
e. king > [kɪ ́ ]̃ f. guitar > [gì.tà]
g. chocolate > [tʃʰɔ́.kə.lɛɁ] h. Germany > [dʒà.mə.nì]
i. Ethiopia > [Ɂì.t ̪θì.jɔ́.pí.já] j. Netherlands > [nè.ðà.là ]̃
k. size > [sʰaiɁ] l. stage show > [sə.teiɁ.ʃóú]
m. Mazda > [mà.zə.dà] n. hamburger > ̃
[hà .bà.gà]

(7) Mapping of English sonorants to Burmese sonorants

a. May > [mèì] b. national > ̃
[nèì.ʃɪ ̀ .nè]
c. liberty > [lì.bà.tì]/[lè.bà.tì] d. wine > [wàì ]̃
e. queen > [kwɪ ́ ]̃ f. Toyota > [tòù.jòù.tà]

As for the rest of the vowels, English tense vowels generally correspond to
phonetically non-short Burmese vowels – that is, vowels with non-short tones (cf. §1.1.1,
Fig. 3). These may be tense monophthongs (cf. 8a-b) or tense diphthongs (cf. 8c-d).

(8) Mapping of English tense vowels to non-short Burmese vowels

a. CD > [sì.dì] b. university > [jù.nì.bà.sì.tì]
c. B.A. > [bì.Ɂèì] d. Coca-Cola > [kòù.kà.kòù.là]

On the other hand, English lax vowels are represented either by phonetically short or
phonetically non-short Burmese vowels. Lax vowels followed by a nasal coda are mapped
to phonetically non-short vowels (cf. 9b,h), as are the longer lax vowels /ɑ, ɔ/ (cf. 9i-j).
When not followed by a nasal coda, the lax vowels /ɪ, ɛ, æ, ʌ, ʊ/ are sometimes mapped to
phonetically non-short vowels (cf. 9a,c), but more often they are mapped to phonetically
short vowels – typically those with glottal tone, which has the effect of laxing/centralizing
the host vowel (cf. 9b,d,e,f,g).

(9) Mapping of English lax vowels to short or non-short Burmese vowels

a. cigarette > [sí.kə.ɾɛɁ] b. Living Color > ̃
[lɪɁ.bɪ ́ .kà.là]
c. sweater > [sʰwè.tà] d. B.Sc. > [bì.ɁɛɁ.sì]
e. jacket > [dʒɛɁ.kɛɁ] f. ‘vood’ (/ʊ/) > [bʊɁ]
g. bus + car > [bʌɁ.sə.ká] h. number > ̃
[nà .bʌɁ]
i. car > [ká] j. Johnny > [dʒɔ̀.nì]

The low diphthongs /ai, au/ retain essentially the same quality (cf. 4d, 6k, 7d), while final
schwa is always turned into a full vowel, whether in an open syllable (e.g. 2g, 3a-c, 6i,m,
7f, 8d) or a closed syllable (e.g. 2c, 6a,j).
84 JSEALS Vol. 1

3 The treatment of marked structures

3.1 Coda consonants

In the previous section, several patterns of English-to-Burmese segment mappings were
laid out. The vowel mappings apply quite generally, but the consonant mappings are
mostly restricted to onset position; the treatment of coda consonants differs greatly from
the treatment of onset consonants shown above. Coda obstruents, for example, are
consistently debuccalized to the glottal stop occurring with glottal tone (cf. 10); they are
almost never salvaged via vowel epenthesis.

(10) Adaptation of English coda obstruents with Burmese glottal tone

a. make-up > [meiɁ.kʌʔ] b. September > ̃
[sɛɁ.tɪ ̀ .bà]
c. Tibet > [tḭ.bɛɁ] d. cigarette > [sí.kə.ɾɛɁ]
e. cake > [keiɁ] f. Jack > [dʒɛɁ]
g. club > [kə.lʌɁ] h. card > [kaɁ]
i. plague > [pə.leiɁ] j. March > [maɁ]
k. clutch > [kə.lʌɁ] l. college > [kɔ́.leiɁ]
m. police > [pə.leiɁ] n. gas > [gɛɁ]
o. size > [sʰaiɁ] p. English > ̃
[Ɂɪ ́ .gə.leiɁ]
q. Joseph > [dʒóú.sʰɛɁ] r. Elizabeth > [Ɂì.lɪɁ.zə.bɛɁ]

This debuccalization occurs regardless of voicing, with both voiced and voiceless segments
being debuccalized (cf. 10a-f vs. 10g-i); regardless of place of articulation, with bilabials
(cf. 10a-b), alveolars (cf. 10c-d), post-alveolars (cf. 10k,l,p), and velars (cf. 10e-f) all being
debuccalized; and regardless of manner of articulation, with plosives (cf. 10a-i), affricates
(cf. 10j-l), and fricatives (cf. 10m-r) all being debuccalized as well. This last result is
especially noteworthy because the fricatives in (10m-p) belong to the perceptually salient
class of sibilants, often exempt from neutralization or deletion processes that apply to other
types of foreign segments in loanword adaptation (e.g. /s/ is given special treatment in
Cantonese loanword adaptation, cf. Silverman 1992).
Coda sonorants are also treated differently from onset sonorants. Coda nasals at all
places of articulation are realized as nasalization on the preceding vowel, both word-
medially (cf. 11a,c,e) and word-finally (cf. 11b,d,f). Coda laterals, on the other hand, are
simply deleted (cf. 12). 4

4
As for coda rhotics, the history of British colonial rule in Burma/Myanmar suggests that the
variety of English in closest contact with Burmese was a dialect of British English, in which
case coda rhotics were most likely absent in the input to loanword adaptation.
Loanword Adaptation in Burmese 85

(11) Adaptation of English coda nasals with Burmese nasal vowels

a. champagne ̃
> [ʃà .péí ]̃ b. rum > [jà ]̃
c. auntie > [Ɂà .tì]̃ d. Spain > [sə.pèì ]̃
e. Singapore > ̃
[sɪ ̀ .gà.pù] f. feeling > [pʰì.lɪ ̀ ]̃

(12) Deletion of English coda laterals

a. April > [Ɂèì.pjì] b. e-mail > [Ɂí.méí]
c. Nicole > [nì.kóú] d. bicycle > ̃
[bàì .sə.kè]

3.2 Consonant clusters

The differential treatment of codas and onsets illustrated in the previous section is reflected
in a similar dichotomy between coda cluster resolution and onset cluster resolution.
Consonant clusters in onset position are broken up via schwa epenthesis (cf. 13), while
consonant clusters in coda position are simplified, like singleton codas, by debuccalization
and deletion (cf. 14).

(13) Resolution of onset clusters via vowel epenthesis

a. glider > [gə.laiɁ.dà] (G) b. England > ̃
[Ɂɪ ̀ .gə.là ]̃
c. Sprite > [sə.pə.jaiɁ] d. disco > [dɪɁ.sə.kòù]

(14) Resolution of coda clusters via debuccalization and deletion

a. August > [Ɂɔ̀.gouɁ] b. Quaker Oats > [kwèì.kà.ɁouɁ]
c. golf > [gauɁ] d. Egypt > [Ɂì.dʒɪɁ]
e. ‘lasked’ > [laɁ] f. Charles > [tʃʰá]

Onset clusters that are permitted in Burmese (i.e. certain stop-glide clusters) are
adapted faithfully with no epenthesis into the cluster (cf. 7e, 9c, 14b).

4 Clarifying the status of distributional gaps

In §1.1.2, several phonotactic gaps in Burmese were identified that seemed like they could
simply be accidental. For instance, only three of the five Burmese monophthongs have
nasal counterparts; /e, ɔ/ do not occur nasalized. Why should this be? It is not possible to
conclude on the basis of this static pattern that there is a constraint against nasal mid
vowels since there is no way to tell whether this distribution is the result of a systematic
ban or a historical accident. On the other hand, loanword data help adjudicate between
these two possibilities. As seen in (15), English words containing sequences of /ɛ/ or /ɔ/
and a coda nasal are altered in a variety of ways instead of being mapped to /ɛ̃/ or /ɔ̃/,
indicating that a constraint against nasal mid vowels is active in the grammar. The gap is
systematic and causes the vowel to be raised (cf. 15a-c) or diphthongized (cf. 15d).
86 JSEALS Vol. 1

(15) Avoidance of nasal mid vowels in loanword adaptations

a. November ̃
> [nòù.wɪ ̀ .bà] b. December > ̃
[dì.zɪ ̀ .bà]
c. John > [dʒʊ̀ ]̃ d. form > [pʰàù ]̃

The low diphthongs provide another example of this sort of distributional gap.
While the mid diphthongs /ei, ou/ are allowed in open syllables, the low diphthongs /ai, au/
only occur with coda glottal stop. There is no clear phonetic reason for this kind of
distribution, so it could simply be the accidental result of layers of historical change (its
origins are in fact historical, cf. Wheatley 1987). Again, however, this gap turns out to be
systematic and the result of constraints whose effects can be plainly seen in loanword
adaptations. In order to avoid a low oral diphthong in an open syllable, either a coda glottal
stop is inserted (cf. 16a-c) or the diphthong is nasalized (cf. 16d-j).

(16) Avoidance of low oral diphthongs in open syllables in loanword adaptations

a. glider > [gə.laiɁ.dà] (G) b. typhoon > [taiɁ.pʰʊ́ ]̃ (G)
c. Michael > [maiɁ.kè] d. cyclone > ̃
[sʰàì .kə.lóú ]̃ (G)
e. bicycle > ̃
[bàì .sə.kè] f. Diana > ̃
[dàì .jà.nà]
g. diary > ̃
[dàì .jà.jì] h. Thai(land) > [tʰáí ]̃
i. style > [sə.tàì ]̃ j. powder > ̃
[pàù .dà]

Glottal stop codas are yet another example. They have an asymmetrical
distribution, co-occurring with high vowels, low vowels, and the mid front vowel /e/, but
never with the mid back vowel /ɔ/. Given this negative evidence, we might hypothesize
that there is a constraint in the language against mid back vowels before tautosyllabic
glottal stops, and this hypothesis is confirmed by positive evidence from loanword data.
English words containing sequences of /ɔ/ and a coda obstruent are altered in a variety of
ways rather than being mapped to ɔʔ]σ, indicating that a constraint against mid back vowels
before coda glottal stop is active in the grammar. In (17a), the vowel is raised; in (17b), it
is diphthongized; and in (17c-e), creaky tone is used instead of glottal tone as the strategy
for adapting the coda obstruent.

(17) Avoidance of mid back vowels before coda glottal stop in loanword adaptations
a. Ford > [pʰʊʔ] b. New York > [nə.jú.jauʔ]
c. George > [dʒɔ̰] d. Scott > [sə.kɔ̰]
e. hot dog > [hɔ̰.dɔ̰]

Finally, nasal vowels are associated with a distributional gap as well. Though they
occur with low, high, and creaky tones, they never occur with glottal tone, and this
phonotactic restriction is reflected in the adaptation of English words with coda clusters
comprising a coda nasal and a (voiceless) coda obstruent. Since the coda nasal must be
rendered with a nasal vowel, creaky tone is used instead of glottal tone to represent the
coda obstruent (cf. 18), in similar fashion to the alternate adaptation strategy used to
Loanword Adaptation in Burmese 87

represent coda obstruents following mid back vowels (cf. 17c-e). On the other hand, in
ND(Z)]σ clusters the voiced obstruents are simply deleted (e.g. 1e, 6a,j, 13b).

(18) Avoidance of glottal tone with nasal vowels in loanword adaptations

a. Sphinx > [sə.pʰɪ]̰̃ b. count > [kãṵ ̰̃]

5 An Optimality-Theoretic analysis of loanword adaptation in Burmese

The phonological restrictions of Burmese that apply to the adaptation of English
borrowings are simple to formalize and analyze in the constraint-based framework of
Optimality Theory (henceforth, OT: Prince and Smolensky 1993/2004). The central tenet
of OT is that surface outputs result from the interaction of markedness constraints against
disfavored structures and faithfulness constraints against departures from the input, with
the form of the ultimate output depending on how well it satisfies the most important (i.e.
highest ranking) constraints in the phonology. From the loanword data presented above, we
can deduce that there are several constraints against illicit structures. These markedness
constraints are summarized in (19). For details on the formalisms, see Kager (1999).

(19) Markedness constraints active in loanword adaptation

a. *NOONSET: ‘Syllables are not onset-less.’
b. *CODA[place]: ‘Coda consonants do not have an oral place of articulation.’
c. *COMPLEXONSET: ‘Onsets are not complex.’
d. *COMPLEXCODA: ‘Codas are not complex.’
e. *Õ: ‘Mid vowels are not nasal.’
f. *ai/au]σ: ‘Low oral diphthongs do not occur in open syllables.’
g. *OɁ]σ: ‘Mid back vowels do not occur with glottal tone.’
h. *ÃɁ]σ: ‘Nasal vowels do not occur with glottal tone.’
i. *ə(C)]PrWd: ‘Minor syllables do not occur word-finally.’

These markedness constraints are counterbalanced by a set of faithfulness

constraints penalizing alterations to the input. These faithfulness constraints are
summarized in (20) and fall into three main families of constraints: DEP(ENDENT),
militating against additions to the input; MAX(IMIZE), militating against subtractions from
the input; and IDENT(ITY), militating against featural changes to the input.
88 JSEALS Vol. 1

(20) Faithfulness constraints active in loanword adaptation

a. DEP: ‘Output segments have input correspondents (i.e. no epenthesis).’
b. MAX-ONSET: ‘Input onsets have output correspondents.’
c. MAX-CODA: ‘Input codas have output correspondents.’
d. MAX[nasal]: ‘An input [+nasal] feature corresponds to some output
[+nasal] feature (i.e. no denasalization).’
e. IDENT[tense]: ‘Tense vowels stay tense; lax vowels stay lax.’
f. IDENT[place]: ‘Input segments keep the same specification for [place] in
the output (i.e. no debuccalization, no changing of place).’

In general, the markedness constraints dominate the faithfulness constraints (M »

F), resulting in changes to the marked structure in the input. For example, it is worse to
have a syllable without an onset (cf. 19a) than it is to insert a new segment into the output
(cf. 20a), which leads to the winning output candidate having a glottal stop onset in (21).

(21) /bi.ɛs.si/ ‘B.Sc.’ *NOONSET DEP

a. bì.ɛɁ.sì *!
) b. bì.ɁɛɁ.sì *

Furthermore, it is worse for coda consonants to have an oral place of articulation

(cf. 19b) than it is to delete the place specification of an input segment (cf. 20f), which
leads to another possible output for /bi.ɛs.si/ ‘B.Sc.’ losing in (22).

(22) /bi.ɛs.si/ ‘B.Sc.’ *CODA[place] IDENT[place]

a. bì.Ɂɛs.sì *!
) b. bì.ɁɛɁ.sì *

Consonant clusters are always repaired, suggesting that constraints (19c-d) are
undominated. 5 Onset clusters in particular are repaired by epenthesis rather than deletion.
In other words, it is worse to delete onset segments to resolve a cluster (cf. 20b) than it is
to insert vowels to save onset segments, which leads to the ranking seen in (23).

5
This is not exactly right, as certain stop-glide clusters are in fact allowed (cf. §1.1.2). The ban in
(19c) is analyzed as more general here only to simplify the OT formalization.
Loanword Adaptation in Burmese 89

(23) /glai.də/ *COMPLEXONSET MAX-ONSET DEP

‘glider’
a. glaiɁ.dà *! *
) b. gə.laiɁ.dà **
c. laiɁ.dà *! *
d. gaiɁ.dà *! *

On the other hand, coda clusters are resolved by deletion rather than epenthesis. It
is worse to insert vowels to save coda segments than it is to delete coda segments (cf. 20c).
This ranking is shown in (24).

(24) /i.dʒɪpt/ ‘Egypt’ *COMPLEXCODA DEP MAX-CODA

a. Ɂì.dʒɪɁɁ * *!
b. Ɂì.dʒì.pə.tə **!*
c. Ɂì.dʒì.pə **! *
) d. Ɂì.dʒɪɁ * *
e. Ɂì.dʒì * **!

Returning to the case of glider in (23), the constraint *ai/au]σ and the constraint
*ə(C)]PrWd prevent other possible outputs from surfacing. It is worse to have a low oral
diphthong in an open syllable or a minor syllable at the end of a word than it is to insert
(coda) segments or to change the place of a vowel (cf. 25-26).

(25) /glai.də/ ‘glider’ *ai/au]σ DEP

a. gə.lai.dà *!
) b. gə.laiɁ.dà *

(26) /glai.də/ ‘glider’ *ə(C)]PrWd IDENT[place]

a. gə.laiɁ.də *!
) b. gə.laiɁ.dà *

Constraint (19h) against nasal vowels with glottal tone appears to be undominated
as well. It is worse for this structure to appear in the output than it is to delete the input
coda obstruent (*ÃɁ]σ » MAX-CODA), and deletion of the coda obstruent is preferred as the
repair to this structure over denasalization (MAX[nasal] » MAX-CODA), cf. (27).
90 JSEALS Vol. 1

(27) /kaʊnt/ ‘count’ *ÃɁ]σ MAX[nasal] MAX-CODA

a. kãũɁ *! *
b. kauɁ *! *
) c. kãṵ ̰̃ **

However, given that the correspondent of the coda obstruent is deleted, there is
actually a choice among three tones for the vowel. In this case, creaky tone is usually
chosen over high or low tone, since the perceptual distance between an English ANT]σ
sequence (where the sonorant portion is likely to be significantly laryngealized in
anticipation of the final voiceless closure) and a Burmese nasal vowel with creaky tone is
smaller than that between the same sequence and a Burmese nasal vowel with high or low
tone. In OT these relationships of perceptual similarity are encoded in terms of intrinsically
ranked correspondence constraints pairing segments or structures that are perceptually
more vs. less similar to each other (cf. Steriade 2001). A subset of the correspondence
constraints that are relevant in the above case is shown in (28).

(28) Subset of correspondence constraints responsible for adaptation of English

ANT]σ
a. *CORR(ANT]σ~Ã̰ ): ‘A vowel + nasal + voiceless obstruent sequence in the
input does not correspond to a nasal vowel with creaky tone in the output.’
b. *CORR(ANT]σ~Á ): ̃ ‘A vowel + nasal + voiceless obstruent sequence in
the input does not correspond to a nasal vowel with high tone in the
output.’
c. *CORR(ANT]σ~À ): ̃ ‘A vowel + nasal + voiceless obstruent sequence in
the input does not correspond to a nasal vowel with low tone in the output.’

Of these three constraints, *CORR(ANT]σ~Ã̰ ) is ranked lowest, since the substitution of a

creaky nasal vowel for ANT]σ represents the smallest departure from the input (cf. 29).

(29) /kaʊnt/ *CORR(ANT]σ~Á )̃ *CORR(ANT]σ~À )̃ *CORR(ANT]σ~Ã̰ )

‘count’
) a. kãṵ ̰̃ *
b. káú ̃ *!
c. kàù ̃ *!

As for the treatment of mid vowels, formalized in (19e) and (19g) are constraints
against nasal mid vowels and mid back vowels before coda glottal stop, structures which
are both illicit in Burmese. Loanword data reveal that preserving either of these structures
is worse than altering the place of the input vowel (cf. 30-31).
Loanword Adaptation in Burmese 91

(30) /dʒɔn/ ‘John’ *Õ IDENT[place]

a. dʒɔ̀ ̃ *!
) b. dʒʊ̀ ̃ *

(31) /fɔːd/ ‘Ford’ *OɁ]σ IDENT[place]

a. pʰɔɁ *!
) b. pʰʊɁ *

However, changing the quality of the vowel is not the only possible repair for the
configuration of a mid back vowel before coda glottal stop; deletion of the coda is also
attested. Thus, fixing this structure also appears to be more important than preserving coda
segments (*OɁ]σ » MAX-CODA). In the present analysis, this variation in repair strategies is
modeled by keeping MAX-CODA and IDENT[place] unranked with respect to each other. As
shown in (32), this allows both the candidate with coda deletion and the candidate with
vowel quality changes to emerge as possible winners.

(32) /skɔt/ ‘Scott’ *OɁ]σ MAX-CODA IDENT[place]

a. sə.kɔɁ *!
) b. sə.kɔ̰ *
) c. sə.kʊɁ *

What determines which of these candidates ultimately wins, then, is the ranking of
perceptually based correspondence constraints similar to those in (28). In the case of Ford,
[ʊɁ] is apparently a closer match for the rhyme than [ɔ̰] (*CORR([ɔːd]~[ɔ̰]) »
*CORR([ɔːd]~[ʊɁ])). On the other hand, in the case of Scott, [ɔ̰] is a closer match for the
rhyme than [ʊɁ] (*CORR([ɔt]~[ʊɁ]) » *CORR([ɔt]~[ɔ̰])).
Vowel quality is quite faithfully adapted otherwise. Lax vowel quality is
maintained, even though doing so often requires inserting new segments not present in the
input (i.e. IDENT[tense] » DEP, cf. 33).

(33) /lɪ.vɪŋ.kʌ.lə/ ‘Living IDENT[tense] DEP

Color’
a. ̃
lí.bɪ ́ .kà.là *!
) b. ̃
lɪɁ.bɪ ́ .kà.là *

In addition, tense vowel quality is maintained in obstruent-final syllables, though it is laxed

in nasal-final syllables. In other words, maintaining vowel tenseness (cf. 20e) is more
important than representing an input (obstruent) coda, but less important than representing
input nasality (cf. 20d): MAX[nasal] » IDENT[tense] » MAX-CODA, cf. (34)-(35).
92 JSEALS Vol. 1

(34) /kwin/ ‘queen’ MAX[nasal] IDENT[tense]

a. kwí *!
) b. kwɪ ́ ̃ *
c. kwɪɁ *! *

(35) /vit/ ‘veet’ (non-word) IDENT[tense] MAX-CODA

) a. bḭ *
b. bɪɁ *!

The choice of creaky tone in (35) is again modeled with a set of perceptually based
correspondence constraints (e.g. *CORR(AT]σ~Á), *CORR(AT]σ~À) » *CORR(AT]σ~A̰ )). A
full account of these correspondence constraints is beyond the scope of this paper, but as
noted above, they play a critical role in narrowing down the pool of possible outputs to the
optimal candidate that ultimately surfaces.
Abstracting away from these correspondence constraints, the constraint rankings
shown in the above tableaux can be summarized as in (36). At the center of this network of
constraints is the ranking MAX-ONSET » DEP » MAX-CODA, which captures the fact that
onset segments are saved (by epenthesis when they occur in clusters), while coda segments
are not – a dichotomy that reflects the typically stronger cues for consonants in onset
position as compared to coda position.

(36) Hierarchy of markedness and faithfulness constraints (cf. 19-20)

6 Conclusion
The results of this survey of loanword adaptation have revealed four main patterns in
accord with the observation of Wheatley (1987: 836) that loanwords in Burmese “tend to
be fully adapted to Burmese segmental phonology”. First, English segments with no close
counterpart in the Burmese inventory are replaced by native Burmese segments rather than
being imported into the language. Second, coda obstruents translate into glottal tone or,
when glottal tone is not compatible with the vowel or would change the quality of the
original vowel, by creaky tone. Third, consonant clusters in syllable onsets are resolved
through vowel epenthesis, while consonant clusters in syllable codas are repaired through
consonant deletion. Finally, phonotactic gaps native to Burmese are maintained in
Loanword Adaptation in Burmese 93

loanwords via a number of different strategies even when they do not have clear phonetic
motivations. Thus, the data in the present study indicate that the adaptation of English
loanwords in Burmese is severely restricted by the constraints of Burmese phonology.

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