name of the country. Culturally, when speaking, locals refer to the country as Burma, but in literature, it is named "Myanmar". Finally, a lot of criticism also focused on the lack of linguistic soundness of the reform. Only four language scholars sat in the 1989 commission, while the majority of the commission was made up of military officials and civil servants with no particular knowledge of linguistics. The new names adopted often lacked serious linguistic credibility, and some appear questionable (the final "r" at the end of the name Myanmar makes sense only for a speaker of a non-rhotic dialect of English). Adoption Since the 1989 decision to change the English name from "Burma" to "Myanmar", adoption of the new name in the English-speaking world has been mixed. Use of "Burma", along with many other name changes within Myanmar has remained widespread, largely based on the question of whether the regime has the legitimacy to change the country's name, particularly without a referendum. The United Nations, of which Myanmar is a member, endorsed the name change five days after its announcement. However, the United States still refers to the country as "Burma". The United States government attributes its choice to support for the party deemed to have won the 1990 election, but been denied power by the junta. That party opposes the new name. Following the 2011–2012 democratic reforms in Burma, politicians started using "Myanmar" more frequently. The British government also cites the elected party's preference in its statement on its choice of name. A spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs in Canada said that his government's choice was "in support of the struggle for democracy". Others, including the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the governments of China, India, Japan, Germany, Australia, Canada and Russia recognize "Myanmar" as the official name. During the 2005 ASEAN summit in Thailand, the Foreign Minister Nyan Win complained about the US insistence of calling his country "Burma" instead of "Myanmar" as it was renamed more than a decade ago. In January 2011, during the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of the country at the United Nations, the delegate of Myanmar interrupted the delegate of the United States, who had begun her comments on human rights in Myanmar by "welcom[ing] the Burmese delegation to the UPR working group". Myanmar's delegate insisted that the American delegation should use the name "Myanmar", and appealed to the