Help:IPA/Burmese

Wikipedia key to pronunciation of Burmese / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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.

Table info: Consonants, IPA, Burmese example, English app...
Consonants
IPABurmese exampleEnglish approximation
b ဘဲ [bɛ́]bat
d ဓာတ် [daʔ]dye
ဂျင် [ɪ̀ɰ̃]jump
ð[lower-alpha 1] အညာသား [ʔəɲàðá]this
ɡ ဂုဏ် [ɡòʊɰ̃]gate
h ဟုတ် [hoʊʔ]hone
j ယား [já]yield
k[lower-alpha 2] ကုန် [kòʊɰ̃]skate
[lower-alpha 3] ခုန် [òʊɰ̃]Kate
l လုပ် [loʊʔ]lay
လှုပ် [oʊʔ]hellhole
m မတ် [maʔ]much
မှတ် [aʔ]wormhole
n နမ်း [náɰ̃]not
နှမ်း [áɰ̃]unhappy
ɲ ညစ် [ɲɪʔ]canyon
ɲ̥ ညှစ် [ɲ̥ɪʔ]None; like /ɲ/, but voiceless
ŋ ငါး [ŋá]sing
ŋ̊ ငှါး [ŋ̊á]Shanghai
p[lower-alpha 2] ပဲ [pɛ́]spat
[lower-alpha 3] ဖဲ [ɛ́]pat
ɹ[lower-alpha 4] တိရစ္ဆာန် [təɹeɪʔsʰàɰ̃]rock
s စာ [sà]gas
[lower-alpha 3] ဆာ [à]monkshood
ʃ ရှာ [ʃà]shoe
t[lower-alpha 2] တတ် [taʔ]stop
[lower-alpha 3] ထပ် [aʔ]top
[lower-alpha 2] ကြဉ် [ɪ̀ɰ̃]itch
tɕʰ[lower-alpha 3] ချင် [tɕʰɪ̀ɰ̃]chew
θ[lower-alpha 5] သတ် [θaʔ]thin
w ဝါး [wá]wield
ʍ လက်ဝှေ့ [lɛʔʍḛ]what in some conservative dialects; voiceless /w/
ɰ̃[lower-alpha 6] ခံ [kʰàɰ̃]Nasalization of preceding vowel
z ဇာ [zà]zoo
ʔ အုတ် [ʔʔ]uh-oh, Cockney bottle
Vowels
IPABurmese exampleEnglish approximation
a နား [ná]father
နိုင် [nàɪɰ̃]might
[lower-alpha 7] နောက် [nʔ]mouth
e နေ [nè]Scottish English mate
[lower-alpha 7] နိပ် [nʔ]may
ɛ နယ် [nɛ̀]met
ə ခလုတ် [kʰəloʊʔ]comma
i နီး [ní]meet
ɪ[lower-alpha 7] နင်း [nɪ́ɰ̃]mit
o နို့ [n]Scottish English note
[lower-alpha 7] နုန်း [nóʊɰ̃]mow
ɔ နော် [nɔ̀]or
u နှူး [n̥ú]moot
ʊ[lower-alpha 7] နွမ်း [nʊ́ɰ̃]cook
Tones
IPABurmese examplesExplanation
` 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
Close