REQUEST FOR COMMENTS/SUGGESTIONS
Language and National Identity in Burma
Justin Watkins (SOAS, London) and U Saw Tun (NIU, DeKalb)

We have been asked to prepare a chapter on Language in Nationalism in Burma/Myanmar for a book "Language and National Identity in Asia" to be published by Oxford University Press.

We are keen that our piece should be as inclusive as possible and are writing to a broad constituency of people with Burma connections to ask if there are any useful pieces of information, or facts, or comments, or sources of information which you would like to share as we prepare to write the chapter.

We are interested in topics including, but not limited to the following:

- conflict or competition between languages in Burma
- situations where different languages are used in different domains of life
- any links, perceived or actual, between language use and personal identity
- individual accounts of the use of several languages
- nationalism and language use
- the relative status of different languages, or Burmese and other languages
- the use of Burmese compared to other languages, both in public and in private
- languages which are not indigenous to Burma - Chinese and Indian languages, etc.
- languages and the law; languages and human rights; languages and education; languages and administration
- recent or predicted changes in language use
- sources of statistics or analyses of language use

Please submit your suggestions, concerns and comments - long or short - to Justin Watkins at jw2@soas.ac.uk, and please include the word "Nationalism" in the subject line of your e-mail. While we will be extremely grateful for all comments we receive, we cannot, of course, promise to represent all views in the chapter we write. All comments will remain confidential and anonymous, unless you prefer otherwise.

Many thanks
Justin Watkins and U Saw Tun

Dr Justin Watkins, Lecturer in Burmese, School of Oriental and African
Studies, London WC1H 0XG

http://www.soas.ac.uk/SouthEastAsia/Burmese
AHRB Wa Dictionary project, http://mercury.soas.ac.uk/wadict/