LINGUIST List 3.400

Tue 12 May 1992

FYI: Rohingyas, Concordance for Mac

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1. , language of the Rohingyas
2. Rand David, Concordance programme for Macintosh

A while ago I aksed what the language of the Rohingyas was, the Muslims of
Arakan state in western Burma who have been fleeing into Bangladesh (and
who will be allowed to return, according to the latest news reports).

I got two contradictory responses:

Walt Torrance (Voice of America) writes that the language of the Rohingyas
is the ROHINGYA language, "primarily of 'Arabic' origin". He says that there
used to be broadcasting in this language, which suggests that Rohingya is
indeed not mutually comprehensible with a major neighboring language such as
Burmese or Bengali.

But according to Rod Johnson (U Michigan), the Rohingyas speak Arakanese
(very close to Burmese) or Burmese.

Johnson observes that "no one has done serious fieldwork in Arakan for a
long time", so maybe the world's linguistic community simply doesn't know.
(And I always thought that all the blank spots on the world's map had been
filled long before I was born...)

Martin Haspelmath, Free University of Berlin

A concordance programme for the Macintosh is available from
Les Publications CRM at the Universite de Montreal. It is called
"Concorder" (or "Le Concordeur" in its French version) and was
developed by D. Rand of the CRM and T. Patera of the Dept. of
Russian and Slavic Studies at McGill. For further information,
send an e-mail message to: randere.umontreal.ca
..............................................................
David Rand | C.P. 6128-A
analyste-programmeur | Montreal, Quebec H3C 3J7
Centre de recherches math. | Telephone: (514) 343-6111, 4726#
Universite de Montreal | E-mail: randere.umontreal.ca