Editing Burmese language (section)

==== Outside the Irrawaddy basin ====
{{Main|Arakanese language|Tavoyan dialects|Intha dialect|Yaw dialect|Myeik dialect}}

More distinctive non-standard varieties of Burmese emerge as one moves farther away from the Irrawaddy River valley toward peripheral areas of the country. These varieties include the [[Yaw dialect|Yaw]], Palaw, [[Myeik dialect|Myeik]] (Merguese), [[Tavoyan dialects|Tavoyan]] and [[Intha-Danu language|Intha dialects]]. Despite substantial vocabulary and pronunciation differences, there is mutual intelligibility among most Burmese dialects, especially with [[language convergence]].

{{static row numbers}}Dialects in [[Tanintharyi Region]], including Palaw, Merguese, and Tavoyan, are especially conservative in comparison to Standard Burmese. The Tavoyan and Intha dialects have preserved the {{IPA|/l/}} medial, which is only found in [[Old Burmese]] inscriptions. These dialects also often reduce the intensity of the [[glottal stop]]. Beik has 250,000 speakers<ref>Bradley, D. 2007a. East and Southeast Asia. In C. Moseley (ed.), Encyclopedia of the world's endangered languages , pp. 349–424. London: Routledge.</ref> while Tavoyan has 400,000. The grammatical constructs of Burmese dialects in Southern Myanmar show greater Mon influence than Standard Burmese.{{sfn|Jenny|2013}}

The most pronounced feature of the [[Arakanese language]] of [[Rakhine State]] is its retention of the {{IPAblink|ɹ}} sound, which has become {{IPAblink|j}} in standard Burmese. Moreover, Arakanese features a variety of vowel differences, including the merger of the {{lang|my|ဧ}} {{IPA|[e]}} and {{lang|my|ဣ}} {{IPA|[i]}} vowels. Hence, a word like "blood" {{lang|my|သွေး}} is pronounced {{IPA|my|θw'''é'''|}} in standard Burmese and {{IPA|my|θw'''í'''|}} in Arakanese.