From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
The charts below show the way in which the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) represents Burmese -language pronunciations in Wiktionary entries. See Burmese phonology for a more thorough discussion of the sounds of Burmese.
Burmese pronunciations [ edit ]
Vowels
IPA
Burmese example
Approximate English equivalent
a နား /ná / fa ther
ai ~ aɪ နိုင် /nài ɴ/ , [nã̀ɪ̃ ɰ̃] migh t[ 6]
au ~ aʊ နောက် /nau ʔ/ , [naʊ ʔ] mou th[ 6]
e နေ /nè / Scottish English ma te
ei ~ eɪ နိပ် /nei ʔ/ , [neɪ ʔ] may [ 6]
ɛ နယ် /nɛ̀ / me t
ə ခလုတ် /kʰə louʔ/ comma
i နီး /ní / mee t
ɪ နင်း /níɴ/ , [nɪ̃́ ɰ̃] mi t[ 6]
o နို့ /no̰ / Scottish English no te
ou ~ oʊ နုန်း /nóu ɴ/ , [nṍʊ̃ ɰ̃] mow [ 6]
ɔ နော် /nɔ̀ / bough t
u နှူး /n̥ú / moo t
ʊ နွမ်း /núɴ/ , [nʊ̃́ ɰ̃] foo t[ 6]
Tones
IPA
Burmese example
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
Rakhine pronunciations [ edit ] Rakhine (Arakanese) is closely related to Burmese. Below are pronunciation equivalents:
Tones
IPA
Rakhine example
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
↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 Unaspirated , like /p t k/ etc. in Romance or Slavic languages.↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 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.
^ A marginal consonant in Burmese, /ɹ/ occurs only in foreign words, and even there is often replaced by /j/ or /l/ .
^ In accents without the wine–whine merger , e.g. Scottish English, Irish English, and some varieties of American English.
↑ 6.00 6.01 6.02 6.03 6.04 6.05 6.06 6.07 6.08 6.09 6.10 The sounds [aɪ] , [aʊ] , [eɪ] , [ɪ] , [oʊ] , and [ʊ] are allophones of /ai/ , /au/ , /ei/ , /i/ , /ou/ , and /u/ respectively, occurring in closed syllables , i.e. before /ɴ/ and /ʔ/ .
^ The vowel before the /ɴ/ is always nasalized , and if a consonant follows /ɴ/ , then the /ɴ/ becomes homorganic with the following consonant.
^ A marginal consonant in Burmese, /ɹ/ occurs only in foreign words, and even there is often replaced by /j/ or /l/ .
^ In accents without the wine–whine merger , e.g. Scottish English, Irish English, and some varieties of American English.
