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This is the pronunciation key for IPA transcriptions of Burmese on Wikipedia. It provides a set of symbols to represent the pronunciation of Burmese in Wikipedia articles, and example words that illustrate the sounds that correspond to them. Integrity must be maintained between the key and the transcriptions that link here; do not change any symbol or value without establishing
consensus on the
talk page first.
Wikipedia key to pronunciation of Burmese
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 [b ɛ́] b at
d
ဓာတ် [d aʔ] d ye
dʑ ဂျင် [dʑ ɪ̀ɰ̃] j ump
ð [ a] အညာသား [ʔəɲàð á] th is
ɡ ဂုဏ် [ɡ òʊɰ̃] g ate
h ဟုတ် [h oʊʔ] h one
j ယား [j á] y ield
k [ b] ကုန် [k òʊɰ̃] sc an
kʰ [ c] ခုန် [kʰ òʊɰ̃] c an
l
လုပ် [l oʊʔ] l ay
l̥ လှုပ် [l̥ oʊʔ] pl ay; like a clear /l/ but voiceless
m မတ် [m aʔ] m uch
m̥ မှတ် [m̥ aʔ] wormh ole
n
နမ်း [n áɰ̃] n ot
n̥ နှမ်း [n̥ áɰ̃] unh appy
ɲ ညစ် [ɲ ɪʔ] cany on
ɲ̥ ညှစ် [ɲ̥ ɪʔ] No English equivalent; like /ɲ/ , but voiceless
ŋ ငါး [ŋ á] sing
ŋ̊ ငှါး [ŋ̊ á] Shangh ai
p [ b] ပဲ [p ɛ́] sp at
pʰ [ c] ဖဲ [pʰ ɛ́] p at
တိရစ္ဆာန် [təɹ eɪʔsʰàɰ̃] r ock
s စာ [s à] gas
sʰ [ c] ဆာ [sʰ à] monksh ood
ʃ ရှာ [ʃ à] sh oe
တတ် [t aʔ] st op
tʰ [ c] ထပ် [tʰ aʔ] t op
tɕ [ b] ကြဉ် [tɕ ɪ̀ɰ̃] itch
tɕʰ [ c] ချင် [tɕʰ ɪ̀ɰ̃] ch ew
θ [ e] သတ် [θ aʔ] th in
w ဝါး [w á] w ield
ʍ လက်ဝှေ့ [lɛʔʍ ḛ] wh at in some conservative dialects; voiceless
/w/
ɰ̃ [ f] ခံ [kʰàɰ̃ ] (see footnote)
z ဇာ [z à] z oo
ʔ အုတ် [ʔ oʊʔ ] uh- oh, Cockney bott le
Vowels
IPA
Burmese example
English approximation
a နား [ná ] fa ther
aɪ နိုင် [nàɪ ɰ̃] migh t
aʊ [ g] နောက် [naʊ ʔ] mou th
e နေ [nè ] Scottish English ma te
eɪ [ g] နိပ် [neɪ ʔ] may
ɛ နယ် [nɛ̀ ] me t
ə [ h] ခလုတ် [kʰə loʊʔ] comma
i နီး [ní ] mee t
ɪ [ g] နင်း [nɪ́ ɰ̃] mi t
o နို့ [no̰ ] sto ry
oʊ [ g] နုန်း [nóʊ ɰ̃] mo le
ɔ နော် [nɔ̀ ] o ff
u နှူး [n̥ú ] coo l
ʊ [ g] နွမ်း [nʊ́ ɰ̃] coo k
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.
^ 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].
homorganic
with the following consonant.^ closed syllables
, i.e. before /ɰ̃/ and /ʔ/ .
^ Only occurs in minor syllables , i.e. open non-final syllables without tone.
Comparisons Introductory guides
