Wikipedia key to pronunciation of Burmese
The charts below show the way in which the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) represents Burmese language pronunciations in Wikipedia articles. For a guide to adding IPA characters to Wikipedia articles, see {{IPA-my }} 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] sk ate
kʰ [c] ခုန် [kʰ òʊɰ̃] K ate
l လုပ် [l oʊʔ] l ay
l̥ လှုပ် [l̥ oʊʔ] hellh ole
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] None; 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
ɹ [d] တိရစ္ဆာန် [təɹ eɪʔsʰàɰ̃] r ock
s စာ [s à] gas
sʰ [c] ဆာ [sʰ à] monksh ood
ʃ ရှာ [ʃ à] sh oe
t [b] 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 ] Nasalization of preceding vowel
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 ခလုတ် [kʰə loʊʔ] comma
i နီး [ní ] mee t
ɪ [g] နင်း [nɪ́ ɰ̃] mi t
o နို့ [no̰ ] Scottish English no te
oʊ [g] နုန်း [nóʊ ɰ̃] mow
ɔ နော် [nɔ̀ ] o r
u နှူး [n̥ú ] moo t
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~d̪͡ð~d̪].
^ a b c d Unaspirated , like /p t k/ etc. in Romance or Slavic languages.^ a b c d e 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~t̪͡θ~t̪].
^ The vowel before the /ɰ̃/ is always nasalized , and if a consonant follows /ɰ̃/ , then the /ɰ̃/ becomes homorganic with the following consonant.
^ a b c d e 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/ .
Comparisons Introductory guides
