Introduction
The Rohingya language, spoken by the Rohingya people of Rakhine State (formerly Arakan) in Myanmar, is more than just a medium of communication. It is a vital symbol of cultural identity, resilience, and survival. Despite decades of marginalization and conflict, the Rohingya language has endured, evolving across borders and generations. In this blog, we explore the history, origins, development, and challenges faced by the Rohingya language.
Origins of the Rohingya Language
The Rohingya language is an Indo-Aryan language with roots tracing back over a thousand years. It belongs to the same linguistic family as Bengali, Urdu, and Hindi, and has been shaped by centuries of contact with Arabic, Persian, and Burmese.
Linguists believe that the Rohingya language developed from the Chittagonian dialect spoken in southeastern Bangladesh, which shares about 70-80% mutual intelligibility. However, Rohingya evolved as a distinct language due to its own vocabulary, grammar, and historical development.
Influence of Religion and Trade
As Islam spread to Arakan in the 8th to 15th centuries through Arab and Persian traders, the Rohingya language absorbed a large number of Arabic and Persian loanwords, especially in religious, legal, and cultural contexts. This influence is still visible in daily conversations and traditional Rohingya literature.
The use of the Arabic script—particularly the Hanifi script—by early Rohingya scholars further emphasized the Islamic cultural foundation of the language. Today, many Rohingya still prefer the Arabic-based Hanifi or Unicode-based Latin scripts to write their language.
Script and Writing Systems
Historically, the Rohingya language was primarily oral. Literacy in Rohingya began to grow in the 20th century, thanks to community initiatives. Over time, several scripts have been used for writing the language:
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Hanifi Script: Developed in the 1980s by Rohingya scholar Mohammad Hanif, it became a symbol of identity.
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Arabic Script: Used for religious texts and in madrassas.
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Latin Script: Widely adopted among the diaspora due to accessibility on digital devices.
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Burmese Script: Imposed during certain periods in Myanmar, though never widely accepted by Rohingya speakers.
Suppression and Survival
The Rohingya people have long faced systemic discrimination in Myanmar. This includes the suppression of their language in schools, media, and public life. Rohingya children were often forced to learn Burmese, while their mother tongue was excluded from formal education.
Despite this, the Rohingya language has survived through oral storytelling, religious education, and strong family traditions. In exile, particularly in refugee camps in Bangladesh and among diaspora communities worldwide, efforts to preserve and teach the language have intensified.
Digital Revival and Global Recognition
In recent years, the internet has played a crucial role in reviving and preserving the Rohingya language. Mobile apps, YouTube channels, online dictionaries, and social media pages now provide Rohingya-language content and promote literacy.
Organizations like the Rohingya Language Foundation and Rohingya Project are working to standardize the language, promote its education, and publish books and educational material in Rohingya.
In 2019, a significant milestone was reached when Google Translate added Rohingya to its list of supported languages, giving global visibility to a language that had long been silenced.
Conclusion: A Language of Hope
The Rohingya language is more than a dialect—it is a lifeline for a people without a recognized homeland. It carries the stories of survival, prayers whispered in exile, songs of remembrance, and dreams of returning home. As long as the Rohingya language is spoken and passed on, the identity of its people will live on—resilient, proud, and unbroken.
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