The charts below show the way in which the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) represents Burmese language pronunciations in Wikipedia articles.
See Burmese language#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 [dʑɪ̀ɴ] |
Jew
|
| ð
|
အညာသား [ʔəɲàðá][1] |
this
|
| ɡ
|
ဂုဏ် [ɡòuɴ] |
gate
|
| h
|
ဟုတ် [houʔ] |
hone
|
| j
|
ယား [já] |
yield
|
| k
|
ကုန် [kòuɴ] |
skate[2]
|
| kʰ
|
ခုန် [kʰòuɴ] |
Kate[3]
|
| 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 [kʰaɴ] |
lawn or long, but without a complete closure between the tongue and the roof of the mouth[4]
|
| 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[2]
|
| pʰ
|
ဖဲ [pʰɛ́] |
pat[3]
|
| ɹ
|
အမရပူရ [ʔəməɹa̰pùɹa̰][5] |
rock
|
| s
|
စာ [sà] |
cats[6]
|
| sʰ
|
ဆာ [sʰà] |
grass hut[3]
|
| ʃ
|
ရှာ [ʃà] |
shoe
|
| t
|
တတ် [taʔ] |
sty[2]
|
| tʰ
|
ထပ် [tʰaʔ] |
tie[3]
|
| tɕ
|
ကြဉ် [tɕɪ̀ɴ] |
itch[2]
|
| tɕʰ
|
ချင် [tɕʰɪ̀ɴ] |
chew[3]
|
| θ
|
သတ် [θaʔ] |
thin
|
| w
|
ဝါး [wá] |
wield
|
| z
|
ဇာ [zà] |
zoo
|
| ʔ
|
အုတ် [ʔouʔ] |
_uh-_oh[7]
|
|
| Vowels
|
| IPA |
Burmese examples |
Approximate English equivalent
|
| a
|
နား [ná] |
father
|
| ai
|
နိုင် [nàiɴ] |
might
|
| au
|
နောက် [nauʔ] |
mouth[8]
|
| e
|
နေ [nè] |
Scottish English mate
|
| ei
|
နိပ် [neiʔ] |
may[8]
|
| ɛ
|
နယ် [nɛ̀] |
met
|
| ə
|
ခလုတ် [kʰəlouʔ] |
comma
|
| i
|
နီး [ní] |
meet
|
| ɪ
|
နင်း [nɪ́ɴ] |
mit[8]
|
| o
|
နို့ [no̰] |
Scottish English note
|
| ou
|
နုန်း [nóuɴ] |
mow[8]
|
| ɔ
|
နော် [nɔ̀] |
bought
|
| u
|
နှူး [n̥ú] |
moot
|
| ʊ
|
နွမ်း [nʊ́ɴ] |
foot[8]
|
| 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
|
|
साँचा:Burmese characters
- ↑ An allophone of /θ/, not a distinct phoneme.
- ↑ अ आ इ ई Unaspirated, like /p t k/ etc. in Romance or Slavic languages.
- ↑ अ आ इ ई उ 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/.
- ↑ Much shorter than the English /s/ in Sue.
- ↑ The glottal stop, which may also be heard instead of /t/ in some varieties of English in words like button [ˈbʌʔn̩].
- ↑ अ आ इ ई उ The sounds [au], [ei], [ɪ], [ou], and [ʊ] are allophones of /ɔ/, /e/, /i/, /o/, and /u/ respectively, occurring in closed syllables, i.e. before /ɴ/ and /ʔ/.
