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 ɪ̀ɴ] J ew
ð အညာသား [ʔəɲàð á] th is
ɡ ဂုဏ် [ɡ òʊ̯ɴ] g ate
h ဟုတ် [h oʊ̯ʔ] h one
j ယား [j á] y ield
k ကုန် [k òʊ̯ɴ] sk ate[1]
kʰ
ခုန် [kʰ òʊ̯ɴ] K ate[2]
l လုပ် [l oʊ̯ʔ] l ay
l̥ လှုပ် [l̥ oʊ̯ʔ] pl ay; like /l/ but voiceless
m မတ် [m aʔ] m uch
m̥ မှတ် [m̥ aʔ] None; like /m/ but voiceless
n နမ်း [n áɴ] n ot
n̥ နှမ်း [n̥ áɴ] None; like /n/ but voiceless
ɴ ခံ [kʰàɴ ] Nasalization of preceding vowel [3]
ɲ ညစ် [ɲ ɪʔ] cany on
ɲ̥ ညှစ် [ɲ̥ ɪʔ] None; like /ɲ/ , but voiceless
ŋ ငါး [ŋ á] sing
ŋ̊ ငှါး [ŋ̊ á] None; like /ŋ/ , but voiceless
p ပဲ [p ɛ́] sp at[1]
pʰ ဖဲ [pʰ ɛ́] p at[2]
ɹ တိရစ္ဆာန် [təɹ eɪ̯ʔsʰàɴ] [4] r ock
s စာ [s à] gas
sʰ ဆာ [sʰ à] grass h ut[2]
ʃ ရှာ [ʃ à] sh oe
t တတ် [t aʔ] st y[1]
tʰ ထပ် [tʰ aʔ] t ie[2]
tɕ ကြဉ် [tɕ ɪ̀ɴ] itch [1]
tɕʰ ချင် [tɕʰ ɪ̀ɴ] ch ew[2]
θ သတ် [θ aʔ] th in
w ဝါး [w á] w ield
z ဇာ [z à] z oo
ʔ အုတ် [ʔ oʊ̯ʔ ] uh- oh, Cockney bott le
Vowels
IPA
Burmese example
English approximation
a နား [ná ] fa ther
aɪ နိုင် [nàɪ̯ ɴ] migh t
aʊ နောက် [naʊ̯ ʔ] mou th[5]
e နေ [nè ] Scottish English ma te
eɪ နိပ် [neɪ ʔ] may [5]
ɛ နယ် [nɛ̀ ] me t
ə ခလုတ် [kʰə loʊ̯ʔ] comma
i နီး [ní ] mee t
ɪ နင်း [nɪ́ ɴ] mi t[5]
o နို့ [no̰ ] Scottish English no te
oʊ နုန်း [nóʊ̯ ɴ] mow [5]
ɔ နော် [nɔ̀ ] o ff
u နှူး [n̥ú ] moo t
ʊ နွမ်း [nʊ́ ɴ] foo t[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
^ 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/ .
Comparisons Introductory guides
