How it began
The Burmese script took shape in the Bagan kingdom, in what is now central Myanmar. It was derived from the Pyu script, the Old Mon script, or directly from a South Indian script, and scholars do not agree on which. The earliest evidence of the alphabet is dated to 1035, and an 18th-century casting of an older stone inscription points to 984. Among the best known early records is the Myazedi inscription at Bagan, a stone pillar carrying the same text in Pyu, Mon, Burmese and Pali, which UNESCO has inscribed on its Memory of the World register.
Before it existed
Early Burmese writing was cut in stone and followed a square format. The rounded letters that now characterize the script came later. The rounded cursive style took hold from the 17th century, when writing spread to palm leaves and folded paper books called parabaiks, because a stylus drawing straight lines would tear a palm leaf. The Burmese name for the script means round script.
How it works
The script is an abugida. Each consonant letter carries an inherent vowel, and other vowels are shown by marks placed above, below, before or after the consonant. Further diacritics mark medial consonants and tones. It is written from left to right, traditionally without spaces between words. Some letters are used mainly for words borrowed from Pali.
How it spread
The script is used to write Burmese and Arakanese and has been adapted for other languages of Myanmar and its neighbors, including Karen languages, Pa'O, Palaung, Jingpho, Khamti and Tai varieties, as well as for Pali texts. A vowel combination still in use was introduced in 1638, and the standard tone markings can be traced to the 19th century.
Where it stands today
Spelling remains conservative and preserves consonants and rhymes that have merged in speech, which has made it useful for reconstructing earlier stages of the language. Dictionaries and spellers produced from the 19th century onward standardized the orthography, and the script is encoded in Unicode as Myanmar.
