Help:IPA for Burmese

This page contains Burmese script. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Burmese script.

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
dʑ ဂျင် [dʑɪ̀ɰ̃] jump
ð[a] အညာသား [ʔəɲàðá] this
ɡ ဂုဏ် [ɡòʊɰ̃] gate
h ဟုတ် [hoʊʔ] hone
j ယား [já] yield
k[b] ကုန် [kòʊɰ̃] scan
kʰ[c] ခုန် [kʰòʊɰ̃] can
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] No English equivalent; like /ɲ/, but voiceless
ŋ ငါး [ŋá] sing
ŋ̊ ငှါး [ŋ̊á] Shanghai
p[b] ပဲ [pɛ́] spat
pʰ[c] ဖဲ [pʰɛ́] pat
ɹ[d] တိရစ္ဆာန် [təɹeɪʔsʰàɰ̃] rock
s စာ [sà] gas
sʰ[c] ဆာ [sʰà] monkshood
ʃ ရှာ [ʃà] shoe
t[b] တတ် [taʔ] stop
tʰ[c] ထပ် [tʰaʔ] top
tɕ[b] ကြဉ် [tɕɪ̀ɰ̃] 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 [ʔoʊʔ] uh-oh, Cockney bottle
Vowels
IPA Burmese example English approximation
a နား [ná] father
aɪ နိုင် [nàɪɰ̃] might
aʊ[g] နောက် [naʊʔ] mouth
e နေ [nè] Scottish English mate
eɪ[g] နိပ် [neɪʔ] may
ɛ နယ် [nɛ̀] met
ə[h] ခလုတ် [kʰəloʊʔ] comma
i နီး [ní] meet
ɪ[g] နင်း [nɪ́ɰ̃] mit
o နို့ [no̰] story
oʊ[g] နုန်း [nóʊɰ̃] mole
ɔ နော် [nɔ̀] off
u နှူး [n̥ú] cool
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