Appendix:Burmese pronunciation
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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.
| Consonants | ||
|---|---|---|
| IPA | Burmese example | Approximate English equivalent |
| b | ဘဲ /bɛ́/ | bat |
| d | ဓာတ် /daʔ/ | dye |
| dʑ | ဂျင် /dʑìɴ/ | juice |
| ð | အညာသား /ʔəɲàðá/ | this |
| ɡ | ဂုဏ် /ɡòuɴ/ | gate |
| h | ဟုတ် /houʔ/ | hone |
| j | ယား /já/ | yield |
| k | ကုန် /kòuɴ/ | skate[1] |
| kʰ | ခုန် /kʰòʊɴ/ | Kate[2] |
| l | လုပ် /louʔ/ | lay |
| l̥ | လှုပ် /l̥ouʔ/ | 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/ | lawn or long, but without a complete closure between the tongue and the roof of the mouth[3] |
| ɲ | ညစ် /ɲiʔ/ | canyon |
| ɲ̥ | ညှစ် /ɲ̥iʔ/ | 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 /təɹeiʔsʰàɴ/[4] | rock |
| s | စာ /sà/ | cats |
| sʰ | ဆာ /sʰà/ | grass hut[2] |
| ʃ | ရှာ /ʃà/ | shoe |
| t | တတ် /taʔ/ | sty[1] |
| tʰ | ထပ် /tʰaʔ/ | tie[2] |
| tɕ | ကြဉ် /tɕìɴ/ | itch[1] |
| tɕʰ | ချင် /tɕʰìɴ/ | chew[2] |
| θ | သတ် /θaʔ/ | thin |
| w | ဝါး /wá/ | wield |
| w̥ | ဝှက် /w̥ɛʔ/ | white[5] |
| z | ဇာ /zà/ | zoo |
| ʔ | အုတ် /ʔouʔ/ | _uh-_oh |
| Vowels | ||
|---|---|---|
| IPA | Burmese example | Approximate English equivalent |
| a | နား /ná/ | father |
| ai ~ aɪ | နိုင် /nàiɴ/, [nã̀ɪ̃ɰ̃] | might[6] |
| au ~ aʊ | နောက် /nauʔ/, [naʊʔ] | mouth[6] |
| e | နေ /nè/ | Scottish English mate |
| ei ~ eɪ | နိပ် /neiʔ/, [neɪʔ] | may[6] |
| ɛ | နယ် /nɛ̀/ | met |
| ə | ခလုတ် /kʰəlouʔ/ | comma |
| i | နီး /ní/ | meet |
| ɪ | နင်း /níɴ/, [nɪ̃́ɰ̃] | mit[6] |
| o | နို့ /no̰/ | Scottish English note |
| ou ~ oʊ | နုန်း /nóuɴ/, [nṍʊ̃ɰ̃] | mow[6] |
| ɔ | နော် /nɔ̀/ | bought |
| u | နှူး /n̥ú/ | moot |
| ʊ | နွမ်း /núɴ/, [nʊ̃́ɰ̃] | foot[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 |
Notes[edit]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Unaspirated, like /p t k/ etc. in Romance or Slavic languages.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 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.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 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/.