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 [ɡòʊɴ] |
gate |
| h |
ဟုတ် [hoʊʔ] |
hone |
| j |
ယား [já] |
yield |
| k |
ကုန် [kòʊɴ] |
skate[1] |
| kʰ |
ခုန် [kʰòʊɴ] |
Kate[2] |
| l |
လုပ် [loʊʔ] |
lay |
| l̥ |
လှုပ် [l̥oʊʔ] |
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 [təɹeɪʔsʰàɴ][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 [ʔoʊʔ] |
uh-oh, Cockney bottle |
|
| Vowels |
| IPA |
Burmese examples |
Approximate English equivalent |
| a |
နား [ná] |
father |
| aɪ |
နိုင် [nàɪɴ] |
might |
| aʊ |
နောက် [naʊʔ] |
mouth[5] |
| e |
နေ [nè] |
Scottish English mate |
| eɪ |
နိပ် [neɪʔ] |
may[5] |
| ɛ |
နယ် [nɛ̀] |
met |
| ə |
ခလုတ် [kʰəloʊʔ] |
comma |
| i |
နီး [ní] |
meet |
| ɪ |
နင်း [nɪ́ɴ] |
mit[5] |
| o |
နို့ [no̰] |
Scottish English note |
| oʊ |
နုန်း [nóʊɴ] |
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 |
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- ^ 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.
- ^ 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 [aʊ], [eɪ], [ɪ], [oʊ], and [ʊ] are allophones of /ɔ/, /e/, /i/, /o/, and /u/ respectively, occurring in closed syllables, i.e. before /ɴ/ and /ʔ/.
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