The charts below show the way in which the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) represents the Burmese language pronunciations in Wikipedia articles. For a guide to adding IPA characters to Wikipedia articles, see and Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Pronunciation § Entering IPA characters.
See Burmese phonology for a more thorough discussion of the sounds of Burmese.
Consonants
|
IPA |
Burmese example |
English approximation
|
b
|
ဘဲ [bɛ́]
|
bat
|
d
|
ဓာတ် [daʔ]
|
dye
|
dʑ
|
ဂျင် [dʑɪ̀ɰ̃]
|
jump
|
ð
|
အညာသား [ʔəɲàðá]
|
this
|
ɡ
|
ဂုဏ် [ɡòʊɰ̃]
|
gate
|
h
|
ဟုတ် [hoʊʔ]
|
hone
|
j
|
ယား [já]
|
yield
|
k
|
ကုန် [kòʊɰ̃]
|
skate
|
kʰ
|
ခုန် [kʰòʊɰ̃]
|
Kate
|
l
|
လုပ် [loʊʔ]
|
lay
|
l̥
|
လှုပ် [l̥oʊʔ]
|
play; like a clear /l/ but voiceless
|
m
|
မတ် [maʔ]
|
much
|
m̥
|
မှတ် [m̥aʔ]
|
wormhole
|
n
|
နမ်း [náɰ̃]
|
not
|
n̥
|
နှမ်း [n̥áɰ̃]
|
unhappy
|
ɲ
|
ညစ် [ɲɪʔ]
|
canyon
|
ɲ̥
|
ညှစ် [ɲ̥ɪʔ]
|
None; like /ɲ/, but voiceless
|
ŋ
|
ငါး [ŋá]
|
sing
|
ŋ̊
|
ငှါး [ŋ̊á]
|
Shanghai
|
p
|
ပဲ [pɛ́]
|
spat
|
pʰ
|
ဖဲ [pʰɛ́]
|
pat
|
ɹ
|
တိရစ္ဆာန် [təɹeɪʔsʰàɰ̃]
|
rock
|
s
|
စာ [sà]
|
gas
|
sʰ
|
ဆာ [sʰà]
|
monkshood
|
ʃ
|
ရှာ [ʃà]
|
shoe
|
t
|
တတ် [taʔ]
|
stop
|
tʰ
|
ထပ် [tʰaʔ]
|
top
|
tɕ
|
ကြဉ် [tɕɪ̀ɰ̃]
|
itch
|
tɕʰ
|
ချင် [tɕʰɪ̀ɰ̃]
|
chew
|
θ
|
သတ် [θaʔ]
|
thin
|
w
|
ဝါး [wá]
|
wield
|
ʍ
|
လက်ဝှေ့ [lɛʔʍḛ]
|
what in some conservative dialects; voiceless /w/
|
ɰ̃
|
ခံ [kʰàɰ̃]
|
(see footnote)
|
z
|
ဇာ [zà]
|
zoo
|
ʔ
|
အုတ် [ʔoʊʔ]
|
uh-oh, Cockney bottle
|
|
Vowels
|
IPA |
Burmese example |
English approximation
|
a
|
နား [ná]
|
father
|
aɪ
|
နိုင် [nàɪɰ̃]
|
might
|
aʊ
|
နောက် [naʊʔ]
|
mouth
|
e
|
နေ [nè]
|
Scottish English mate
|
eɪ
|
နိပ် [neɪʔ]
|
may
|
ɛ
|
နယ် [nɛ̀]
|
met
|
ə
|
ခလုတ် [kʰəloʊʔ]
|
comma
|
i
|
နီး [ní]
|
meet
|
ɪ
|
နင်း [nɪ́ɰ̃]
|
mit
|
o
|
နို့ [no̰]
|
Scottish English note
|
oʊ
|
နုန်း [nóʊɰ̃]
|
mow
|
ɔ
|
နော် [nɔ̀]
|
or
|
u
|
နှူး [n̥ú]
|
moot
|
ʊ
|
နွမ်း [nʊ́ɰ̃]
|
cook
|
|
Tones
|
IPA |
Burmese examples |
Explanation
|
`
|
ငါ [ŋà]
|
Normal phonation, medium duration, low intensity, low (often slightly rising) pitch
|
´
|
ငါး [ŋá]
|
Sometimes slightly breathy, relatively long, high intensity, high pitch; often with a fall before a pause
|
˷
|
ငါ့ [ŋa̰]
|
Tense or creaky phonation (sometimes with lax glottal stop), medium duration, high intensity, high (often slightly falling) pitch
|
|
-
Varies between [ð~ɾ̪͡ð~ɾ̪].
-
Unaspirated, like /p t k/ etc. in Romance or Slavic languages.
-
Heavily aspirated.
-
A marginal consonant in Burmese, /ɹ/ occurs only in foreign words, and even there is often replaced by /j/ or /l/.
-
Varies between [θ~ɾ̪̥͡θ~ɾ̪̥ʰ].
-
The vowel before the /ɰ̃/ is always nasalized, and if a consonant follows /ɰ̃/, then the /ɰ̃/ becomes homorganic with the following consonant.
-
The sounds [aʊ], [eɪ], [ɪ], [oʊ], and [ʊ] are allophones of /ɔ/, /e/, /i/, /o/, and /u/ respectively, occurring in closed syllables, i.e. before /ɰ̃/ and /ʔ/.
-
Only occurs in minor syllables, i.e. open non-final syllables without tone.
See also
-
Category:Pages with Burmese IPA (1,476)