Help:IPA for Burmese
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The charts below show the way in which the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) represents Burmese language pronunciations in Wikipedia articles.
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 [dʑɪ̀ɴ] | Jew |
| ð | အညာသား [ʔəɲàðá] | this |
| ɡ | ဂုဏ် [ɡòʊ̯ɴ] | gate |
| h | ဟုတ် [hoʊ̯ʔ] | hone |
| j | ယား [já] | yield |
| k | ကုန် [kòʊ̯ɴ] | skate[1] |
| kʰ | ခုန် [kʰòʊ̯ɴ] | Kate[2] |
| l | လုပ် [loʊ̯ʔ] | lay |
| l̥ | လှုပ် [l̥oʊ̯ʔ] | play; like /l/ but voiceless |
| m | မတ် [maʔ] | much |
| m̥ | မှတ် [m̥aʔ] | None; like /m/ but voiceless |
| n | နမ်း [náɴ] | not |
| n̥ | နှမ်း [n̥áɴ] | None; like /n/ but voiceless |
| ɴ | ခံ [kʰàɴ] | somewhat like long[3] |
| ɲ | ညစ် [ɲɪʔ] | canyon |
| ɲ̥ | ညှစ် [ɲ̥ɪʔ] | None; like /ɲ/, but voiceless |
| ŋ | ငါး [ŋá] | sing |
| ŋ̊ | ငှါး [ŋ̊á] | None; like /ŋ/, but voiceless |
| p | ပဲ [pɛ́] | spat[1] |
| pʰ | ဖဲ [pʰɛ́] | pat[2] |
| ɹ | တိရစ္ဆာန် [təɹeɪ̯ʔsʰàɴ][4] | rock |
| s | စာ [sà] | gas |
| sʰ | ဆာ [sʰà] | grass hut[2] |
| ʃ | ရှာ [ʃà] | shoe |
| t | တတ် [taʔ] | sty[1] |
| tʰ | ထပ် [tʰaʔ] | tie[2] |
| tɕ | ကြဉ် [tɕɪ̀ɴ] | itch[1] |
| tɕʰ | ချင် [tɕʰɪ̀ɴ] | chew[2] |
| θ | သတ် [θaʔ] | thin |
| w | ဝါး [wá] | wield |
| z | ဇာ [zà] | zoo |
| ʔ | အုတ် [ʔoʊ̯ʔ] | uh-oh, Cockney bottle |
| Vowels | ||
|---|---|---|
| IPA | Burmese example | English approximation |
| a | နား [ná] | father |
| aɪ̯ | နိုင် [nàɪ̯ɴ] | might |
| aʊ̯ | နောက် [naʊ̯ʔ] | mouth[5] |
| e | နေ [nè] | Scottish English mate |
| eɪ | နိပ် [neɪʔ] | may[5] |
| ɛ | နယ် [nɛ̀] | met |
| ə | ခလုတ် [kʰəloʊ̯ʔ] | comma |
| i | နီး [ní] | meet |
| ɪ | နင်း [nɪ́ɴ] | mit[5] |
| o | နို့ [no̰] | Scottish English note |
| oʊ̯ | နုန်း [nóʊ̯ɴ] | mow[5] |
| ɔ | နော် [nɔ̀] | bought |
| u | နှူး [n̥ú] | moot |
| ʊ | နွမ်း [nʊ́ɴ] | foot[5] |
| 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[edit]
- ^ a b c d Unaspirated, like /p t k/ etc. in Romance or Slavic languages.
- ^ a b c d e Heavily aspirated.
- ^ The vowel before the /ɴ/ is always nasalized, and if a consonant follows /ɴ/, then the /ɴ/ becomes homorganic with the following consonant. It is never uvular, more functioning as a nasal approximant, either alveolar or velar. See here for more details.
- ^ A marginal consonant in Burmese, /ɹ/ occurs only in foreign words, and even there is often replaced by /j/ or /l/.
- ^ a b c d e The sounds [aʊ̯], [eɪ̯], [ɪ], [oʊ̯], and [ʊ] are allophones of /ɔ/, /e/, /i/, /o/, and /u/ respectively, occurring in closed syllables, i.e. before /ɴ/ and /ʔ/.
