Burmese Ways

Burmese Eclipse Calculations

Two Burmese eclipse calculations, one lunar and one solar, are analysed using examples from a Burmese manuscript. The fundamental parameters are with some important exceptions the same as in the Suryasiddhanta, but the handling of, for instance, parallax in the solar eclipse is different and much simplified. Specific to Burma are also the shadow calculations.

Psycho-collocational expressives in Burmese

Finality Constraints in Burmese – History and Synchrony

This paper will outline some of the restrictions on what can and cannot appear at the end of a Burmese word. We will see that historical changes have resulted in a rather unusual phonotactic distribution. By looking at how Burmese speakers treat foreign loanwords in their language, it will be revealed what phonological principles the Burmese have generated in order to make sense of their phonot...

Burmese Lokapalas : a Problem of Identification

In Burma the proper identification of Lokapalas is exceedingly difficult. Basically the problem stems from the fact that Burmese art has been greatly influenced by Indian traditions, yet successive migrations ofTibeto-Burman tribes have introduced Chinese elements. Consequently iconographic inconsistencies occur with such regularity that a positive identification of Lokapalas is nearly impossib...

Ways of Reasoning and Ways of Inferencing

This paper reports on research in intercultural psychology to argue the case for the role that different ways of knowing might have on education. Evidence is summarised that suggests that Asian students make subtlety different inferences than their western counterparts, and that this has not been given serious consideration in the educational literature, despite its importance for the enterpris...