From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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 Template:IPA 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
ဂျင် ɪ̀ɰ̃] jump
ð [a] အညာသား [ʔəɲàðá] this
ɡ ဂုဏ် ɡòʊɰ̃] gate
h ဟုတ် hoʊʔ] hone
j ယား já] yield
k [b] ကုန် kòʊɰ̃] skate
[c] ခုန် òʊɰ̃] Kate
l လုပ် loʊʔ] lay
လှုပ် oʊʔ] play; like a clear /l/ but voiceless
m မတ် maʔ] much
မှတ် aʔ] wormhole
n နမ်း náɰ̃] not
နှမ်း áɰ̃] unhappy
ɲ ညစ် ɲɪʔ] canyon
ɲ̥ ညှစ် ɲ̥ɪʔ] None; like /ɲ/, but voiceless
ŋ ငါး ŋá] sing
ŋ̊ ငှါး ŋ̊á] Shanghai
p [b] ပဲ pɛ́] spat
[c] ဖဲ ɛ́] pat
ɹ [d] တိရစ္ဆာန် [təɹeɪʔsʰàɰ̃] rock
s စာ sà] gas
[c] ဆာ à] monkshood
ʃ ရှာ ʃà] shoe
t [b] တတ် taʔ] stop
[c] ထပ် aʔ] top
[b] ကြဉ် ɪ̀ɰ̃] itch
tɕʰ [c] ချင် tɕʰɪ̀ɰ̃] chew
θ [e] သတ် θaʔ] thin
w ဝါး wá] wield
ʍ လက်ဝှေ့ [lɛʔʍḛ] what in some conservative dialects; voiceless /w/
ɰ̃ [f] ခံ [kʰàɰ̃ (see footnote)
z ဇာ zà] zoo
ʔ အုတ် ʔʔ uh-oh, Cockney bottle
Vowels
IPA Burmese example English approximation
a နား [ná father
နိုင် [nàɪɰ̃] might
[g] နောက် [nʔ] mouth
e နေ [nè Scottish English mate
[g] နိပ် [nʔ] may
ɛ နယ် [nɛ̀ met
ə [h] ခလုတ် [kʰəloʊʔ] comma
i နီး [ní meet
ɪ [g] နင်း [nɪ́ɰ̃] mit
o နို့ [n Scottish English note
[g] နုန်း [nóʊɰ̃] mow
ɔ နော် [nɔ̀ or
u နှူး [n̥ú moot
ʊ [g] 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

Notes

  1. ^ Varies between [ð~ɾ̪͡ð~ɾ̪].
  2. ^ a b c d Unaspirated, like /p t k/ etc. in Romance or Slavic languages.
  3. ^ a b c d e Heavily aspirated.
  4. ^ A marginal consonant in Burmese, /ɹ/ occurs only in foreign words, and even there is often replaced by /j/ or /l/.
  5. ^ Varies between [θ~ɾ̪̥͡θ~ɾ̪̥ʰ].
  6. ^ The vowel before the /ɰ̃/ is always nasalized, and if a consonant follows /ɰ̃/, then the /ɰ̃/ becomes homorganic with the following consonant.
  7. ^ a b c d e The sounds [aʊ], [eɪ], [ɪ], [oʊ], and [ʊ] citation needed are allophones of /ɔ/, /e/, /i/, /o/, and /u/ citation needed respectively, occurring in closed syllables, i.e. before /ɰ̃/ and /ʔ/.
  8. ^ Only occurs in minor syllables, i.e. open non-final syllables without tone.

See also