The charts below show the way in which the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) represents the Burmese language pronunciations in Wikipedia articles. For a guide to adding IPA characters to Wikipedia articles, see Template:IPA 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 [bɛ́] bat
d ဓာတ် [daʔ] dye
ဂျင် [ɪ̀ɰ̃] jump
ð[a] အညာသား [ʔəɲàðá] this
ɡ ဂုဏ် [ɡòʊɰ̃] gate
h ဟုတ် [hoʊʔ] hone
j ယား [já] yield
k[b] ကုန် [kòʊɰ̃] scan
[c] ခုန် [òʊɰ̃] can
l လုပ် [loʊʔ] lay
လှုပ် [oʊʔ] play; like a clear /l/ but voiceless
m မတ် [maʔ] much
မှတ် [aʔ] wormhole
n နမ်း [náɰ̃] not
နှမ်း [áɰ̃] unhappy
ɲ ညစ် [ɲɪʔ] canyon
ɲ̥ ညှစ် [ɲ̥ɪʔ] No English equivalent; like /ɲ/, but voiceless
ŋ ငါး [ŋá] sing
ŋ̊ ငှါး [ŋ̊á] Shanghai
p[b] ပဲ [pɛ́] spat
[c] ဖဲ [ɛ́] pat
ɹ[d] တိရစ္ဆာန် [təɹeɪʔsʰàɰ̃] rock
s စာ [sà] gas
[c] ဆာ [à] monkshood
ʃ ရှာ [ʃà] shoe
t[b] တတ် [taʔ] stop
[c] ထပ် [aʔ] top
[b] ကြဉ် [ɪ̀ɰ̃] itch
tɕʰ[c] ချင် [tɕʰɪ̀ɰ̃] chew
θ[e] သတ် [θaʔ] thin
w ဝါး [wá] wield
ʍ လက်ဝှေ့ [lɛʔʍḛ] what in some conservative dialects; voiceless /w/
ɰ̃[f] ခံ [kʰàɰ̃] (see footnote)
z ဇာ [zà] zoo
ʔ အုတ် [ʔʔ] uh-oh, Cockney bottle
Vowels
IPA Burmese example English approximation
a နား [ná] father
နိုင် [nàɪɰ̃] might
[g] နောက် [nʔ] mouth
e နေ [nè] Scottish English mate
[g] နိပ် [nʔ] may
ɛ နယ် [nɛ̀] met
ə[h] ခလုတ် [kʰəloʊʔ] comma
i နီး [ní] meet
ɪ[g] နင်း [nɪ́ɰ̃] mit
o နို့ [n] story
[g] နုန်း [nóʊɰ̃] mole
ɔ နော် [nɔ̀] off
u နှူး [n̥ú] cool
ʊ[g] နွမ်း [nʊ́ɰ̃] cook
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

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  1. ^ Varies between [ð~ɾ̪͡ð~ɾ̪].
  2. ^ a b c d Unaspirated, like /p t k/ etc. in Romance or Slavic languages.
  3. ^ a b c d e Heavily aspirated.
  4. ^ A marginal consonant in Burmese, /ɹ/ occurs only in foreign words, and even there is often replaced by /j/ or /l/.
  5. ^ Varies between [θ~ɾ̪̥͡θ~ɾ̪̥ʰ].
  6. ^ The vowel before the /ɰ̃/ is always nasalized, and if a consonant follows /ɰ̃/, then the /ɰ̃/ becomes homorganic with the following consonant.
  7. ^ a b c d e The sounds [aʊ], [eɪ], [ɪ], [oʊ], and [ʊ][citation needed] are allophones of /ɔ/, /e/, /i/, /o/, and /u/[citation needed] respectively, occurring in closed syllables, i.e. before /ɰ̃/ and /ʔ/.
  8. ^ Only occurs in minor syllables, i.e. open non-final syllables without tone.

See also

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