Appendix:Burmese pronunciation

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Jump to navigation Jump to search
English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

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
ဂျင် /ìɴ/ juice
ð အညာသား /ʔəɲàðá/ this
ɡ ဂုဏ် /ɡòuɴ/ gate
h ဟုတ် /houʔ/ hone
j ယား /já/ yield
k ကုန် /kòuɴ/ skate[1]
ခုန် /òʊɴ/ Kate[2]
l လုပ် /louʔ/ lay
လှုပ် /ouʔ/ play; like /l/ but voiceless
m မတ် /maʔ/ much
မှတ် /aʔ/ None; like /m/ but voiceless
n နမ်း /náɴ/ not
နှမ်း /áɴ/ 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]
ဖဲ /ɛ́/ pat[2]
ɹ တိရစ္ဆာန် /təɹeiʔsʰàɴ/[4] rock
s စာ /sà/ cats
ဆာ /à/ grass hut[2]
ʃ ရှာ /ʃà/ shoe
t တတ် /taʔ/ sty[1]
ထပ် /aʔ/ tie[2]
ကြဉ် /ìɴ/ itch[1]
tɕʰ ချင် /tɕʰìɴ/ chew[2]
θ သတ် /θaʔ/ thin
w ဝါး /wá/ wield
ဝှက် /ɛʔ/ 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/, [nʔ] mouth[6]
e နေ /nè/ Scottish English mate
ei ~ eɪ နိပ် /neiʔ/, [nʔ] may[6]
ɛ နယ် /nɛ̀/ met
ə ခလုတ် /kʰəlouʔ/ comma
i နီး /ní/ meet
ɪ နင်း /níɴ/, [nɪ̃́ɰ̃] mit[6]
o နို့ /n/ 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. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Unaspirated, like /p t k/ etc. in Romance or Slavic languages.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Heavily aspirated.
  3. ^ The vowel before the /ɴ/ is always nasalized, and if a consonant follows /ɴ/, then the /ɴ/ becomes homorganic with the following consonant.
  4. ^ A marginal consonant in Burmese, /ɹ/ occurs only in foreign words, and even there is often replaced by /j/ or /l/.
  5. ^ In accents without the wine–whine merger, e.g. Scottish English, Irish English, and some varieties of American English.
  6. 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/.