Rohingya language

Rohingya
𐴌𐴟𐴇𐴥𐴝𐴚𐴒𐴙𐴝 𐴌𐴗𐴥𐴝𐴙𐴚𐴒𐴙𐴝 رُاَࣺينڠَ
The word "Rohingya" written in the Hanifi Rohingya script
Native to	Myanmar (Rakhine State)
Region	Rakhine State (Myanmar) and southeastern Chittagong Division (Bangladesh)
Ethnicity	Rohingya
Native speakers	1.8 million (2012)
Language family	Indo-European Indo-Iranian Indo-Aryan Eastern Bengali–Assamese Rohingya
Writing system	Hanifi Rohingya, Perso-Arabic, Burmese, Latin, Bengali–Assamese (rare)
Language codes
ISO 639-3	rhg
Glottolog	rohi1238
Traditional area of Rohingya speakers

Rohingya (/roʊˈɪndʒə, -hɪn-, -ɪŋjə/), also known as Ruáingga (Hanifi Rohingya: 𐴌𐴗𐴥𐴝𐴙𐴚𐴒𐴙𐴝; pronounced [rʊˈɜiɲɟə]), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Rohingya people of Rakhine State, 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 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	voiceless	p	t	ʈ	tʃ	k	ʔ
	voiced	b	d	ɖ	dʒ	ɡ
Nasal		m	n	(ɳ)	ɲ	ŋ
Fricative	voiceless	f	s		ʃ	x	h
	voiced	(v)	z
Flap			ɾ	ɽ
Approximant	central	w			j
	lateral		l

• A dental fricative [θ] may also be heard in words of Arabic origin.
• [v] is only used in words of foreign origin.
• /n/ is heard as [ɳ] when preceding /ʈ, ɖ/.
• Allophones of /k, ɡ/ can be heard as [c, ɟ].

Vowels

	Front	Back
Close	i	u
Close-mid	e	o
Open-mid		ɔ
Open	a

• Short allophones of /e, a/ are heard as [ɛ, æ], [ʌ, ə]. Allophones of /i, u/ are heard as [ɪ, ʊ].

There are six vowels and several diphthongs in the Rohingya language. They contrast between "open-o" ([ɔ]) and "closed-o" ([o]) by using the different spellings ⟨o⟩/⟨ó⟩ and ⟨ou⟩/⟨óu⟩ respectively.

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 ⟨aá⟩ and ⟨áa⟩.

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.

Añí

I

bát

rice

hái

eat.

Añí bát hái

I rice eat.

Ite

He

TV

TV

saá

watches.

Ite TV saá

He TV watches.

Ibá

She

sairkél

bicycle

soré

rides.

Ibá sairkél soré

She bicycle rides.

Itará

They

ham ot

to work

za

go.

Itará {ham ot} za

They {to work} go.

Rohingya word order-2 is Subject–Time-Place-Object–Verb.

Ibá

I

beínna

in the morning

gór ot

at home

bát

rice

há

eat.

Ibá beínna {gór ot} bát há

I {in the morning} {at home} rice eat.

Tará

They

biale

at night

duan ot

at shop

TV

TV

saá

watches.

Tará biale {duan ot} TV saá

They {at night} {at shop} TV watches.

Ite

He

sair gwá báze

at 4pm

hál hañsat

at seaside

sairkél

bicycle

soré

rides.

Ite {sair gwá báze} {hál hañsat} sairkél soré

He {at 4pm} {at seaside} bicycle rides.

Ítara

They

nowá báze

at 9 o'clock

ofís ot

to office

ham ot

to work

zaa

go.

Ítara {nowá báze} {ofís ot} {ham ot} zaa

They {at 9 o'clock} {to office} {to work} go.

Rohingya word order-3 is Subject–Time-[adjective]-Place-Object–[adverb]-Verb.

Tuñí

Subject

You

aijja

Time

today

noya

[Adjective]

new

eskul ot

Place

at school

toratori/toratorigorí

[Adverb]

quickly

paathi

Object

party

goró.

Verb

make.

Tuñí aijja noya {eskul ot} toratori/toratorigorí paathi goró.

Subject Time [Adjective] Place [Adverb] Object Verb

You today new {at school} quickly party make.

Rohingya word order-4 is Subject–Time-[adjective]-Place-Object–[adverb]-Verb_1-Verb_2.

Tuñí

Subject

You

aijja

Time

today

noya

[Adjective]

new

eskul ot

Place

at school

toratori/toratorigorí

[Adverb]

quickly

paathi

Object

party

goittóu

Verb_1

help

modot-goró.

Verb_2

to make.

Tuñí aijja noya {eskul ot} toratori/toratorigorí paathi goittóu modot-goró.

Subject Time [Adjective] Place [Adverb] Object Verb_1 Verb_2

You today new {at school} quickly party help {to make}.

You help to make party quickly at new school today.

More on Time extension:

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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	Añí hái. Añí hái. I eat.	Tuñí/Oñne Tui hóo. hós. Tuñí/Oñne hóo. Tui hós. You eat.	Ite/Ibá/Itará há. Ite/Ibá/Itará há. He/She/They eats/eats/eat.
	present progressive	Añí háir. Añí háir. I am eating.	Tuñí/Oñne Tui hóor. hóor. Tuñí/Oñne hóor. Tui hóor. You are eating.	Ite/Ibá/Itará hár. Ite/Ibá/Itará hár. He/She/They is/is/are eating. Ite/Ibá/Itará hái boi. Ite/Ibá/Itará hái boi. He/She/They is/is/are eating.
	perfect	Añí hái félaiyi. Añí hái félaiyi. I have eaten.	Tuñí/Oñne Tui hái hái félaiyó. félaiyós. Tuñí/Oñne hái félaiyó. Tui hái félaiyós. You have eaten.	Ite/Ibá/Itará hái félaiye. Ite/Ibá/Itará hái félaiye. He/She/They has/has/have eaten.
	perfect continuous	Añí hái félair. Añí hái félair. I have been eating.	Tuñí/Oñne Tui hái hái féloor. féloor. Tuñí/Oñne hái féloor. Tui hái féloor. You have been eating.	Ite/Ibá/Itará hái félaar. Ite/Ibá/Itará hái félaar. He/She/They has/has/have been eating.
Past	near past	Añí háiyi. Añí háiyi. I ate.	Tuñí/Oñne Tui háiyo. háiyós. Tuñí/Oñne háiyo. Tui háiyós. You ate.	Ite/Ibá/Itará háaiye. Ite/Ibá/Itará háaiye. He/She/They ate.
	far past	Añí háailam. Añí háailam. I ate.	Tuñí/Oñne Tui háailá. háailí. Tuñí/Oñne háailá. Tui háailí. You ate.	Ite/Ibá/Itará háail. Ite/Ibá/Itará háail. He/She/They ate.
	past progressive	Añí háat táikkilám. Añí háat táikkilám. I was eating.	Tuñí/Oñne Tui háat háat táikkilá. táikkilí. Tuñí/Oñne háat táikkilá. Tui háat táikkilí. You were eating.	Ite/Ibá/Itará háat táikkil. Ite/Ibá/Itará háat táikkil. He/She/They was/was/were eating.
	perfect	Añí hái félailám. Añí hái félailám. I had eaten.	Tuñí/Oñne Tui hái hái félailá. félailí. Tuñí/Oñne hái félailá. Tui hái félailí. You had eaten.	Ite/Ibá/Itará hái félail. Ite/Ibá/Itará hái félail. He/She/They had eaten.
	perfect continuous	Añí hái félaat táikkilám. Añí hái félaat táikkilám. I had been eating.	Tuñí/Oñne Tui hái hái félaat félaat táikkilá. táikkilí. Tuñí/Oñne hái félaat táikkilá. Tui hái félaat táikkilí. You had been eating.	Ite/Ibá/Itará hái félaat táikkil. Ite/Ibá/Itará hái félaat táikkil. He/She/They had been eating.
Future	simple future	Añí háiyoum. Añí háiyoum. I will eat.	Tuñí/Oñne Tui háiba. háibí. Tuñí/Oñne háiba. Tui háibí. You will eat.	Ite/Ibá/Itará háibou. Ite/Ibá/Itará háibou. He/She/They will eat.
	future progressive	Añí háat tákiyoum. Añí háat tákiyoum. I will be eating. Añí háiyoum boi. Añí háiyoum boi. I will be eating.	Tuñí/Oñne Tui háat háat tákibá. tákibí. Tuñí/Oñne háat tákibá. Tui háat tákibí. You will be eating. Tuñí/Oñne Tui háiba háibi goi. goi. Tuñí/Oñne háiba goi. Tui háibi goi. You will be eating.	Ite/Ibá/Itará háat tákibou. Ite/Ibá/Itará háat tákibou. He/She/They will be eating. Ite/Ibá/Itará háibou goi. Ite/Ibá/Itará háibou goi. He/She/They will be eating.
	perfect	Añí hái félaiyoum. Añí hái félaiyoum. I will have eaten.	Tuñí/Oñne Tui hái hái félaibá. félaibí. Tuñí/Oñne hái félaibá. Tui hái félaibí. You will have eaten.	Ite/Ibá/Itará hái félaibou. Ite/Ibá/Itará hái félaibou. He/She/They will has/has/have eaten.
	perfect continuous	Añí hái félaat tákiyoum. Añí hái félaat tákiyoum. I will have been eating.	Tuñí/Oñne Tui hái hái félaat félaat tákibá. tákibí. Tuñí/Oñne hái félaat tákibá. Tui hái félaat tákibí. You will have been eating.	Ite/Ibá/Itará hái félaat tákibou. Ite/Ibá/Itará hái félaat tákibou. He/She/They will has/has/have been eating.

Pronouns

Number	Person	Gender	Pronouns				Possessive adjectives
			Subject	Object	Possessive	Reflexive
Singular	1st	m/f (I)	añí, mui	añáre, moré	añár, mor	añínize, muinize	añár, mor
	2nd	m/f (you)	tuñí tui oñne	tuáñre toré oñnoré	tuáñr tor oñnor	tuñínize tuinize oñnenize	tuáñr tor oñnor
	3rd	m (he)	ite * te * uite ** íte **	itaré taré uitaré ítare	itar tar uitar ítar	itenize tenize uitenize ítenize	itar tar uitar ítar
		m/f (he/she)	ibá * uibá ** íba **	ibáre uibáre íbare	ibár uibár íbar	ibánize uibánize íbanize	ibár uibár íbar
		n (it)	yián ibá yían ** íba **	yiánóre ibáre yíanóre íbare	yiánór ibár yíanór íbar	yiánnize ibánize yíannize íbanize	yiánór ibár yíanór íbar
Plural	1st	m/f (we)	añára	añáráre	añárar	añáránize	añárar
	2nd	m/f (you)	tuáñra	tuáñráre	tuáñrar	tuáñránize	tuáñrar
	3rd	m/f (they)	itará * tará * uitará ** ítara **	itaráre taráre uitaráre ítarare	itarár tarár uitarár ítarar	itaránize taránize uitaránize ítaranize	itarár tarár uitarár ítarar
		n (they)	iín * íin ** uún úun ** uuín **	iínóre íinóre uúnóre úunóre uuínóre	iínór íinór uúnór úunór uuínór	iínnize íinnize uúnnize úunnize uuínnize	iínór íinór uúnór úunór uuínór

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

1. lek =write (sg.) Tui yián ehón lek. You write this right now.
2. lek-ó =write (pl.) Tuñí yián ehón lekó. You write this right now.
3. lek-á =cause to write Tui/Tuñí John ór áta leká/lekó. You ask John to write.
4. lek-í-de =help to write Tui/Tuñí ibáre lekíde/lekído. You help John in writing.

Present

1. lek-í =write (I) Aññí hámicá gór ot lekí. I always write at home.
2. lek-ó =write (II) Tuñí hámicá gór ot lekó. You always write at home.
3. lek-ó-s =write (IIa) Tui hámicá gór ot lekós. You always write at home.
4. lek-é =write (III) Tará hámicá gór ot leké. They always write at home.

Continuous

1. lek-í-r =writing (I) Aññí ciñçí ekkán lekír. I am writing a letter now.
2. lek-ó-or =writing (II) Tuñí/Tui ciñçí ekkán lekóor. You are writing a letter now.
3. lek-é-r =writing (III) Tará ciñçí ekkán lekér. They are writing a letter now.

Perfect

1. lek-í-féla-iyi =have written (I) Aññí ciñçí lekífélaiyi. I have written a letter.
2. lek-í-féla-iyo =have written (II) Tuñí ciñçí lekífélaiyo. You have written a letter.
3. lek-í-féla-iyo-s =have written (IIa) Tui ciñçí lekífélaiyos. You have written a letter.
4. lek-í-féla-iye =has/have written (III) Tará ciñçí lekífélaiye. They have written a letter.

Past

1. leik-kí =wrote (I) Aññí ciñçí ekkán leikkí. I wrote a letter.
2. leik-kó =wrote (II) Tuñí ciñçí ekkán leikkó. You wrote a letter.
3. leik-kó-s =wrote (IIa) Tui ciñçí ekkán leikkós. You wrote a letter.
4. leik-ké =wrote (III) Tará ciñçí ekkán leikké. They wrote a letter.

Future

1. lek-í-youm =will write (I) Aññí ciñçí ekkán lekíyoum. I will write a letter.
2. lek-í-ba =will write (II) Tuñí ciñçí ekkán lekíba. You will write a letter.
3. lek-í-bi =will write (IIa) Tui ciñçí ekkán lekkíbi. You will write a letter.
4. lek-í-bou =will write (III) Tará ciñçí ekkán lekíbou. They will write a letter.

Alternative

1. leik-kyóum =will write (I) Aññí ciñçí ekkán leikkyóum. I will write a letter.
2. leik-bá =will write (II) Tuñí ciñçí ekkán leikbá. You will write a letter.
3. leik-bí =will write (IIa) Tui ciñçí ekkán leikbí. You will write a letter.
4. leik-bóu =will write (III) Tará ciñçí ekkán leikbóu. They will write a letter.

Passive

1. lek-á-giye =(passive I, II, III) Ciñçí ekkán lekágiyé. A letter is/was written.

Possibility

1. lek-á-za =being writable Ciñçí yián leká za. This letter is writable.
2. lek-á-za-ibou =being writable in future Ciñçí yián leká zaibou. This letter will be writable.
3. lek-á-di-ya-za =can be made writable Ciñçí yián lekádiyaza. This letter can be made writable.

Noun

1. lek-á =writing Leká yián bicí cúndor. This writing is very beautiful.
2. lek-ó-on =act of writing Email beggún óttu lekóon saá. All should write emails.
3. lek-ó-ya =person who writes Ahmed bála lekóya. Ahmed is a good writer.
4. lek-ó-ni =thing used to write Añártu honó lekóni ciz nái. I do not have anything to write with.
5. lek-á-ni =tool used to write Añártu honó lekáni boudh nái. I do not have any writing board.
6. lek-á-lekí =activities to write Tuáñrár bútore lekáleki tákoon saá. There should be writing between you.

Adjective

1. lek-é-de =thing used for writing Añártu honó lekéde ciz nái. I do not have any writable thing.
2. leik-kyá =of written Kitab ibá fura leikká. This book is fully written.
3. leik-kyé-dé=of that written Añártu honó leikkyéde juab nái. I do not have any written answer.

Adverb

1. lek-í lek-í =by writing & writing/while writing Ite gór ottu lekí lekí aiyér. He is coming from home while writing.

Immediate present

1. lek-í-lam =acted to write (I) Aññí habos sán lekílam. I write the letter.
2. lek-í-la =acted to write (II) Tuñí habos sán lekíla. You write the letter.
3. lek-í-li =acted to write (II) Tui habos sán lekíli. You write the letter.
4. lek-í-lou =acted to write (III) Tará habos sán lekílou. They write the letter.

Alternative

1. leik-lám =acted to write (I) Aññí habos sán lekílam. I write the letter.
2. leik-lá =acted to write (II) Tuñí habos sán lekíla. You write the letter.
3. leik-lí =acted to write (II) Tui habos sán lekíli. You write the letter.
4. leik-lou =acted to write (III) Tará habos sán lekílou. They write the letter.

Long past

1. leik-kí-lam =had written (I) Aññí habos sán leikkílam. I had written this paper long ago.
2. leik-kí-la =had written (II) Tuñí habos sán leikkíla. You had written this paper long ago.
3. leik-kí-li =had written (II) Tui habos sán leikkíli. You had written this paper long ago.
4. leik-kí-l =had written (III) Tará habos sán leikkíl. They had written this paper long ago.

Remote future

1. lek-í-youm éri =will write later (I) Aññí habos sán lekíyoum éri. I will write the paper sometime later.
2. lek-í-ba ri =will write later (II) Tuñí habos sán lekíba ri. You will write the paper sometime later.
3. lek-í-bi ri =will write later (IIa) Tui habos sán lekíbi ri. You write the paper sometime later.
4. lek-í-bou ri =will write later (III) Tará habos sán lekíbou ri. They will write the paper sometime later.

Conditional

1. lek-í-tam =would have written (I) Aññí email lán lekítam. I would have written the email.
2. lek-í-ta =would have written (II) Tuñí email lán lekíta i. You would have written the email.
3. lek-í-ti =would have written (IIa) Tui email lán lekíti. You would have written the email.
4. lek-í-tou =would have written (III) Tará email lán lekítou. They would have written the email.

Alternative

1. leik-tám =would have written (I) Aññí email lán leiktám. I would have written the email.
2. leik-tá =would have written (II) Tuñí email lán leiktá. You would have written the email.
3. leik-tí =would have written (IIa) Tui email lán leiktí. You would have written the email.
4. leik-tóu =would have written (III) Tará email lán leiktóu. They would have written the email.

Request/allow

1. lek-ó-na =please write Meérbanigorí lekóna. Please write the letter.
2. lek-ó-goi =allowed to write Tuñí lekó gói. Let you write.

Alternative

1. lek-se-ná =please write Meérbanigorí leksená. Please write the letter.
2. lek-gói =allowed to write Tui lek gói. Let you write.

If

1. lek-í-le =if (I/II/III) person write Tuñí lekíle gom óibou. It will be good if you write.

Writing systems

Rohingya Hanifi script

The Hanifi Rohingya script is a unified script for the Rohingya language. Rohingya was first written in the 19th century with a version of the Perso-Arabic script. In 1975, an orthographic Arabic script was developed, based on the Urdu alphabet.

In the 1980s, (Maolana) Mohammad Hanif and his colleagues created the suitable phonetic script based on Arabic letters; it has been compared to the N’ko script. The script also includes a set of decimal numbers.

Layout of the Rohingya virtual keyboard.

A virtual keyboard was developed by Google for the Rohingya language in 2019 and allows users to type directly in Rohingya script. The Rohingya Unicode keyboard layout can be found here.

Characters

Rohingya consonants -29

𐴌𐴟𐴇𐴥𐴝𐴚𐴒𐴙𐴝 𐴇𐴥𐴡𐴌𐴟𐴉𐴢
𐴅	𐴄	𐴃	𐴂	𐴁	𐴀
𐴋	𐴊	𐴉	𐴈	𐴇	𐴆
𐴑	𐴐	𐴏	𐴎	𐴍	𐴌
𐴗	𐴖	𐴕	𐴔	𐴓	𐴒
	𐴜	𐴛	𐴚	𐴙	𐴘

Rohingya vowels -7

𐴌𐴟𐴇𐴥𐴝𐴚𐴒𐴙𐴝 𐴀𐴝𐴉𐴡𐴌 𐴀𐴞𐴉𐴡𐴌𐴢
𐴢	𐴡	𐴠	𐴟	𐴞	𐴝
	◌𐴧	◌𐴦	◌𐴥	◌𐴤	𐴣

Rohingya numerals

𐴌𐴟𐴇𐴥𐴝𐴚𐴒𐴙𐴝 𐴓𐴡𐴔𐴁𐴡𐴌𐴢
𐴰	𐴱	𐴲	𐴳	𐴴	𐴵	𐴶	𐴷	𐴸	𐴹

Arabic script

The first Rohingya language texts, written in Arabic script, are claimed to be more than 200 years old, though there is no concrete evidence about it. While Arakan was under British rule (1826–1948), the Rohingya people used mainly English and Urdu for written communication. Since independence in 1948, Burmese has been used in all official communications. Since the early 1960s, Rohingya scholars have started to realise the need for a writing system suited to their own language.

In 1975 a writing system was developed using Arabic letters; other scholars adopted Urdu script to remedy some deficiencies of the Arabic. Neither proved satisfactory, however, and most Rohingyas found it difficult to read the language in either version.

Following these attempts, (Maolana) Mohammad Hanif achieved a dedicated right-to-left alphabet for the Rohingya language in 1983. Named after its author, the Hanifi alphabet is a modified form of the Arabic alphabet, with additional borrowings from Latin and Burmese alphabets.

At present, a Rohingya Unicode font is available. It is based on Arabic letters (since those are far more understood by the people) with additional tone signs. Tests that have been conducted suggest that this script can be learned in a matter of hours if the reader has learned Arabic in a madrassa.

The Rohingya Fonna Unicode keyboard layout as well as a free font can be found here.

Latin Rohingya script

In 1999 E.M. Siddique Basu was able to simplify the Rohingya writing using Latin letters. It is an intuitive writing system which can be learnt easily and is known as Rohingyalish or Rohingya Fonna that uses only 26 Roman letters, five accented vowels, and two additional Latin characters for retroflex and nasal sounds.

Rohingya Character Set-28

A a	B b	C c	Ç ç	D d	E e	F f
G g	H h	I i	J j	K k	L l	M m
N n	Ñ ñ	O o	P p	Q q	R r	S s
T t	U u	V v	W w	X x	Y y	Z z

Q, V, and X are used only for loan-words.

The character set table of the Rohingya writing system uses the Latin letters shown above (ç and ñ with green background). The vowels are written both unaccented (aeiou) and accented (áéíóú). The use of c, ç and ñ is adapted to the language; c represents /ʃ/ (English sh), ç is the retroflex r ([ɽ]), and ñ indicates a nasalised vowel (e.g., fañs /fãs/ 'five'). Crucially, these can all be accessed from an English keyboard, for example by using the English (US) International keyboard.

Names and pronunciation of letters
The names of the letters of the Latin Rohingya alphabet are similar to the names of the letters of the English alphabet.

Basic letters

Grapheme	Pronunciation	Name
a	/a/	ee
b	/b/	bii
c	/ʃ/	cii
ç	/ɽ/	çii
d	/d̪/	dii
e	/e/	ii
f	/f/	ef
g	/g/	jii
h	/h, x/	eech
i	/i/	ai
j	/ɟ/	jee
k	/k/	kee
l	/l/	el
m	/m/	em
n	/n/	en
ñ	/◌̃/ (nasalization)	añ
o	/ɔ/	oou
p	/p/	pii
q	/q/	kyuu
r	/r/	er
s	/s/	es
t	/t̪/	tii
u	/u/	yuu
v	/v/	vii
w	/w/	dblyuu
x	/ks/	eks
y	/j/	way
z	/z/	zed

Digraphs

Grapheme	Pronunciation
ch	/c/
dh	/ɖ/
h'	/h/
kh	/x/
ng	/ŋ/
ny	/ɲ/
ou	/o/
th	/t̪/
ts	/t̪/

Long vowels in Rohingyalish are spelled with double vowels: for example, a long /ɔ/ is spelled as "oo", while a long /o/ is spelled as "oou".

Sample text

The following is a sample text in Rohingya of Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights with English, contrasted with versions of the text in Bengali and Assamese.

Rohingya in Rohingya Latin alphabet

Manúic beggún azad hísafe, ar izzot arde hók ókkol ót, fúainna hísafe foida óiye. Fottí insán óttu honó forók sára elan ot aséde tamám hók ókkol arde azadi ókkol loi fáaida goróon ór hók asé. Ar, taráre dil arde demak diyé. Ótolla, taráttu ekzon loi arekzon bái hísafe maamela goróon saá.

English original: "All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood."

Bengali Latin script

Shômosto manush shadhinbhabe shôman môrjada ebong odhikar niye jônmogrohon kôre. Tãder bibek ebong buddhi achhe; shutorang shôkoleri êke ôporer proti bhratrittoshulobh mônobhab niye achôron kôra uchit.

Assamese in Latin script

Xôkôlû manuhê sadhinbhawê xôman môrzôda aru ôdhikar lôi zônmôgrôhôn kôrê. Xihôtôr bibêk aru buddhi asê aru xihôtê pôrôspôr bhratrittôrê asôrôn kôribô lagê.

External links

Media related to Rohingya language at Wikimedia Commons

• Rohingya Language Academy website
• Rohingya Language Foundation website
• English–Rohingya Dictionary
• Rohingya font download