![]() This reflects the regime's attempt to impose the notion that literary language is master, Mr Houtman says, but there is definitely a political background to it. If Burmese people are writing for publication, they use 'Myanmar', but speaking they use 'Burma', he says. Myanmar is the literary form, which is ceremonial and official and reeks of government. "There's a formal term which is Myanmar and the informal, everyday term which is Burma. They have both been used within Burma for a long time, says anthropologist Gustaaf Houtman, who has written extensively about Burmese politics. Burmah, as it was spelt in the 19th Century, is a local corruption of the word Myanmar. The two words mean the same thing and one is derived from the other. ![]() The ruling military junta changed its name from Burma to Myanmar in 1989, a year after thousands were killed in the suppression of a popular uprising. ![]() The same thing happened last fall, when the news was full of protest marches led by Buddhist monks (" Should it be Burma or Myanmar?", BBC News Magazine, ): Because of the recent catastrophe in the Irawaddy delta, the names of the country formerly known as Burma are in the news again.
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