Burma or Myanmar? What's the difference? Does it matter? A thread on political linguistics in Southeast Asia 👇

First, what's the difference between "Burma" and "Myanmar"? You might be surprised that these are basically the same word, borrowed into English twice from two different registers of the Burmese language. (A "register" describes the level of formality of a language)

Burma comes from "Bama." Myanmar comes from "Myanma." "Bama" (pronounced buh-mah) is a colloquial version of "Myanma", which incidentally has two syllables (myuh-ma), not three

How do you get "b" from "my"? Well, make a "b" sound and notice where your lips are. Then do the same with an "m" sound. Both of these are voiced bilabial consonants, and such sound changes are pretty common

For a rough analogue of Myanma/Bama, say the name of the country that is the six counties in the northern part of Ireland. Is it called "Northern Ireland"? Or is it "Norn Iron"?